Jcc 


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V 


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DIFFERENCES 


BETWEEN 


OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL 


PRESBYTERIANS : 


BY  REV.  LEWIS  CHEESEMAN, 

Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,   in  connection  with  the 
General  Assembly,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER, 
BY  JOHN  C.  LORD,  D.  D. 

Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


"  That  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou  Father  art  in  me,  and  I  in 
thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us  :  that  the  world  may  believe 
that  thou  hast  sent  me." — John  xvii.  21. 


ROCHESTER : 

PUBLISHED   BY  ERASTUS    DARROW, 

CORNER  OF  MAIN  AND  ST.  PAUL  STREETS, 

1848. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1848, 
By  Lewis  Cheeseman, 

in  the  Clerks  Office  of  the  Northern  District  of  New  York. 

0    * 


Harris  on  &  Luckey,  Printers. 


I* 


I 


Rochester,  October  1847. 
Rev.  Mr.  Cheeseman  : 

Dear  Sir — Having  listened  to  your  several  lectures  on  the  differences 
between  what  is  termed  "Old  and  New  Divinity,"  with  no  little  degree 
of  interest,  and  believing  that  their  publication  at  this  time,  will  do  great 
good  to  the  cause  of  truth  in  Western  New-York, — we  would  therefore, 
very  respectfully,  ask  of  you  the  same  for  publication. 

While  we  remain, 

Truly  and  Respectfully,  Yours. 

gabriel  longmuir,  donald  campbell, 

alex.  longmuir,  ira  cook, 

robert  penney,  robert  finley, 

angus  Mcdonald,  david  hutchinson, 

james  hutchinson,  e.  darrow, 

t.  b.  forsyth,  m.  baldwin. 


Gentlemen  : 

At  your  request,  I  send  you  the  discourses  on  the  differences  between 
Old  and  New  School  Presbyterians,  and  as  they  were  at  first  prepared  for 
the  pulpit  and  not  for  the  press  ;  I  have  concluded  to  omit  the  formalities 
with  which  they  were  delivered,  and  to  present  them  in  an  abridged  form, 
lest  they  should  occupy  too  much  space  to  be  patiently  read. 

With  an  earnest  desire  that  they  may  provoke  examination  and  promote 
the  peace,  unity  and  purity  of  the  Church, 

1  remain  Gentlemen,  Respectfully, 

Yours  in  the  best  bonds, 
LEWIS  CHEESEMAN. 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    DIFFERENCES    BETWEEN    OLD    AND  NEW 
SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  secession — Its  causes — Changes  in  Church  government  and  operations 
by  the  New  School  no  improvement — Separation  necessary  to  a  refor- 
mation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    BETWEEN    OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL 
PRESBYTERIANS. 

Sufferings  of  Christ — The  New  School  deny  their  penal   nature — They 
were  penal. 


CHAPTER  III. 

DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 

Imputation — What  intended  by  it — Denied  by  the  New  School — The  doc- 
trine defended — New  School  views  of  faith  exposed  and  refuted. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

DOCTRINAL  DIFFERENCES  CONTINUED. 

The  Atonement — Its  sufficiency — The  New  School  limit  it  in  its  nature— 
The  differences  respect  its  nature,  not  its  extent. 


4"  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 

Natural  depravity — Denied  by  the  New  School — Its  importance — Its  denial 
dangerous. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 

The  despensation  of  the  Spirit — The  New  School  by  their  views  of  ability 
and  depravity,  make  the  Spirits  despensation  void — They  make  truth  an 
agent. — The  Spirit  the  only  agent  in  regeneration — They  place  infants  on 
a  level  with  mere  annimals. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 

Revivals  of  Religion — Views  of  the  Old  School  on  this  subject — Differences 
respecting  their  nature  and  genuineness. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 

Tendencies  of  the  new  divinity — The  new  divinity  rests  upon  one  or  at  most 
two  assumptions,   both  of  which  are  false — Tends  to  infidelity. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

BASIS    OF    UNION    AMONG    PRESBYTERIANS. 

What  it  is — The  New  School  have  departed  from  it — A  return  necessary  to 
a  union. 

CHAPTER  X. 

PLEA    FOR   UNION    AMONG    PRESBYTERIANS. 

A  union  desirable — Division  among  Christians  an  evil — The  true  remedy 
proposed. 


«> 


m 


* 


INTRODUCTION. 

~™  ■ 

In  the  following  work,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cheeseman  has 
designed  to  give  a  brief  account  of  those  doctrinal  differences 
which  separate  Presbyterians  of  the  Old  and  New  School. 
Not  that  these  differences  are  peculiar  to  Presbyterians,  for 
the  same  contest  between  truth  and  error,  is  developed  in 
some  form  in  all  those  protestant  denominations  in  which  vi- 
tality enough  remains,  to  resist  the  progress  of  error  and 
spiritual  decay  ;  not  that  the  questions  between  the  adherents 
of  the  old  and  new  divinity,  are  of  modern  origin  ;  novelties 
now  for  the  first  time  considered  and  debated,  but  because 
the  ancient  heresies  which  have  been  privily  brought  in  and 
which  have  corrupted  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Presbyterian 
communion,  are  still  artfully  concealed  under  various  dis- 
guises from  the  eyes  of  multitudes  of  pious  persons  who  could 
they  be  made  to  see  them  in  their  true  deformity,  would  not 
tarry  a  night  under  their  shadow.  The  adherents,  of  the 
new  Theology,  sometimes  represent,  that  there  is  really  no 
substantial  difference  between  their  system  and  old  divinity  ; 
that  it  is  a  meres  logomachy,  a  difference  in  mode  of  expres- 
sion and  in  philosophical  explanations  ;  again,  with  a  strange 
yet  characteristic  inconsistency,  they  caricature  the  doctrines 
of  grace  and  of  the  confession  of  faith  as  though  they  em- 
bodied all  that  was  inconsistent,  perverse  and  monstrous. 
Could  it  be  made  to  appear  to  that  large  and  respectable  body 
of  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  who  though  sound 
in  the  faith,  yet  remain  in  the  New  School  connexion,  that 
the  principles  for  which  the  General  Assembly  contend  and  in 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

the  defence  of  which,  they  intended  to  bear  their  testimony 
in  the  excision  act  of  1837,  are  the  same  maintained  by  Paul 
the  Apostle  against  the  gainsayers  of  his  day,  the  same  after- 
ward defended  in  the  fifth  century  by  Augustine,  against 
Pelagius,  and  the  same  which  were  revived  by  Luther,  and 
with  which,  as  with  a  battle  axe,  he  smote  the  gates  of  the 
great  apostacy,  they  would  not  and  could  not  give  support 
and  countenance,  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  truth 
by  remaining  an  hour  within  the  ecclesiastical  walls  of  the 
the  New  School  General  Assembly.  Yet  if  there  be  any  thing 
clear  which  may  be  determined  beyond  all  doubt,  it  is  that  the 
theological  contest  between  the  Reformers  and  the  Romanists 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  is  the  same  now  waged  between 
Old  and  New  School  Presbyterians.     No  intelligent  reader 
can  peruse  the  controversy  between  Luther  and  Dr.  Eck,  the 
champion  of  the  Papists,  without  perceiving  this.  No  degree 
of  prejudice  or  blindness  can  conceal  the  fact,  it  is  written  as 
with  a  sunbeam,  it  is  graven  as  with  the  point  of  a  diamond 
in  the  face  of  a  rock. 

The  ability  for  which  Eck  and  the  Romanists  contended 
against  the  Reformers  is  precisely  both  in  form  and  substance 
the  same  as  that  insisted  upon  by  the  new  school  divines. — 
The  doctrines  maintained  by  all  the  reformed  churches  have 
been  rejected  by  them  for  the  theological  tenets  of  the  Papa- 
cy. Nothing  can  be  demonstrated  by  history  if  D' Aubigne's 
account  of  the  Reformation  does  not  establish  this.  Here 
was  the  cause  of  the  division  in  the  Presbyterian  church. 

The  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  whatever  may  be  said 
of  its  regularity  or  expediency,  as  to  form,  time  and  place 
was  prompted  by  a  love  of  the  truth,  and  was  believed  to  be 
necessary  to  a  suitable  defence  of  the  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints.  The  Presbyterian  Church  has  ever  manifested  a 
Catholic  Spirit,  she  claims  no  divine  right  to  leave  other 
churches  to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God,  which  are 
no  mercies  at  all.     She  admits  the  validity  of  the  ordinations 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

and  ordinances  of  all  evangelical  churches  who  defend  the 
doctrines  of  grace,  even  when  that  defence  is  confined  to  a 
remnant  after  the  election  of  grace.  She  stands  and  has 
ever  stood,  both  in  Scotland  and  in  the  United  States,  for 
the  truth,  and  wherever  she  finds  it  she  loves  and  fellowships 
all  who  receive  and  maintain  it.  She  acknowledges  that  the 
church  Catholic  and  Universal  is  composed  of  all  true  be- 
lievers by  whatever  name  called  or  in  whatever  ecclesiastical 
connexion  *  found.  It  was  upon  doctrinal  questions  deemed 
fundamental,  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  consented  to  the 
dismemberment  of  nearly  one  half  her  entire  connexion. — 
On  the  one  hand  were  numbers,  wealth  and  power,  on  the 
other  the  truth.  For  Christ's  cross  and  crown  she  hesitated 
not  to  make  the  sacrifice.  The  Presbyterian  Church  might 
have-  struggled  along,  as  have  other  denominations,  holding 
together  by  her  government,  without  any  real  agreement  in 
doctrine  and  order,  and  it  is  sufficiently  evident  that  the 
division  in  this  great  communion,  was  the  result  of  the  main- 
tainance  on  the  one  hand  and  the  rejection  on  the  other, 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformers  and  of  the  Reformed 
churches.  It  would  be  easy  to  show  how  the  same  defence 
of  the  faith  is  perpetuating  in  other  churches  a  conflict,  the 
bitterness  of  which  has  been  greatly  mitigated  among  Pres- 
byterians by  their  division  into  two  bodies.  Those  who 
differ  on  radical  points,  can  love  each  other  better  across  a 
denominational  division  than  when  bound  in  the  same  yoke ; 
for  the  "  contentions  of  brethren  are  like  the  bars  of  a  castle/' 
and  "how  can  two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed.*' 

The  great  questions  at  the  Reformation  were  human  de- 
pravity and  ability.  Says,  the  eloquent  Historian,  of  the 
Reformation,  "  The  inability  of  man  and  the  Almighty  pow- 
er of  God  were  the  two  truths  Luther  sought  to  reestablish." 

"A  man,"  says  Luther  in  one  of  his  first  propositions  against 
the  Romish  Theology,  "  who  is  a  stranger  to  the  grace  of 
God,  cannot  keep  the  commandments  of  God.     The  will  of 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

man  without  divine  grace  is  not  free  but  enslaved  and  will- 
ing to  be  so." 

"  The  Papists  with  Pelagius,"  says  D'Aubigne,  "  assert- 
ing man's  freedom  would  keep  him  in  slavery,  the  Reformers 
showing  him  his  fetters  and  how  they  may  be  struck  off, 
were  the  true  advocates  of  liberty,  the  questions  were  be- 
tween   A    LIBERTY    PROCEEDING    FROM  Man's  NATURE  and  a 

liberty  that  cometh  from  God."  Such  was  the  contest  says 
this  historian,  in  St.  Paul's  time,  in  the  days  of  'Augustine, 
and  again  in  those  of  Luther ;  and  such  we  may  add  is  the 
controversy  now  between  the  old  and  new  theology.  De- 
nying the  representative  character  of  Adam  and  the  con- 
demnation of  mankind  in  him  ;  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  the 
innate  universal  moral  alienation  of  our  race  from  God  ; 
giving  to  fallen  man  the  power  of  obedience  to  the  broken 
law,  of  self  recovery,  and  of  self  regeneration;  the  adherants 
of  the  new  divinity  are  upon  the  ground  of  the  Romanists,  of 
Eck  their  champion,  and  of  Pelagius.  The  foundation  of 
the  atonement  is  subverted,  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
despised,  and  man  is  brought  to  himself  and  to  his  own  efforts 
and  works  for  salvation  rather  than  to  God  and  to  Christ. 

The  doctrines  received  by  the  reformers  and  contained  in 
sacred  Scriptures  may  be  resolved  into  five  points. 

1.  Apostacy,  original  sin,  and  human  ability. 

2.  Grace  in  conversion  or  regeneration  the  sole  work  of 
God. 

3.  Justification  by  faith  through  Jesus  Christ,  who  was 
made  sin  for  us  whose  righteousness  is  imputed  to  the  believer 
and  received  by  faith  alone. 

4.  The  eternal  election,  and, 
5    Perseverance  of  the  saints. 

All  these  truths  stand  related  to  and  are  dependant  upon 
the  first  proposition  ;  hence  the  controversy  between  the  Re- 
formers and  the  Papists,  was  first  upon  this  point,  "Whether 
man  possessed  in  his  own  nature  the  power  of  loving  God  and 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

doing  righteousness.'1''  The  very  first  proposition  of  Luther, 
which  made  the  ears  of  men  to  tingle  ;  the  first  blow  struck 
upon  the  walls  of  Rome,  whose  reverberations  resounded 
through  Europe,  was  a  denial  of  this  docrine.  Who  stands 
with  Luther  now?  Surely  not  the  New  School  Presby- 
terians, .who  in  general,  are  abhorent  of  the  sentiments  of 
Luther  and  take  ground  with  the  Romanists,  with  a  vio- 
lence and  denunciation  almost  equal  to  theirs.  They  hold 
up  to  scorn  and  contempt  this  very  proposition  of  man's  ina- 
bility to  any  spiritual  good  in  the  mouths  of  their  Old  School  * 
brethren,  and  seem  to  think  the  whole  gospel  is  in  the 
dogma  of  human  ability,  as  though  the  atonement  was  a 
free,  full  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  not  in  its  own  nature, 
but  in  the  nature  and  ability  of  man  himself. 

As  in  Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  and  England  the  for- 
mulas of  the  Reformation  are  still  professed  by  churches 
which  are  either  Arminean  or  Socinion,  and  have  long  been 
known  to  be  such ;  so  the  Westminister  confession  is  still 
retained  by  those  who  reject  its  distinctive  features  and 
doctrines.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this  :  the  one  is,  error 
does  not  appear  well  in  the  consecutive  order  of  a  confession 
of  faith  ;  it  does  not  bear  the  exposure  and  so  shrinks  from 
the  light.  The  other  is  found  in  the  advantages  gained  by 
assaulting  truth  under  the  shelter  of  an  orthodox  creed.  At 
the  beginning  "  they  privily  brought  in  damnable  heresies.'' 
No  stab  is  so  sure,  so  effectual,  as  that  which  is  given  in  the 
disguise  of  a  friend  ;  no  open  war  is  so  dangerous  or  so  dead- 
ly as  household  treason.  Enough  has  been  heard  of  human 
ability  in  the  popular  preaching  of  the  present  day  rung  on 
innumerable  changes ;  enough  has  been  seen  of  the  ridicule 
attempted  to  be  cast  on  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  and  native 
depravity ;  enough  of  that  hortatory  and  empty  sermonizing 
which  instead  of  exhibiting  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel, 
is  ever  declaiming  upon  human  ability  and  human  powers  ; 
enough  of  that  kind  of  faith  which  is  made  to  terminate  in  what 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

the  creature  can  do,  rather  than  what  God  can  do  and  has 
done;  enough  of  this  wood,  hay  and  stubble  which  is  destined 
to  the  fire,  has  been  manifest  to  render  it  an  unnecessary 
labor  to  extract  from  the  sermons,  discussions  and  controver- 
sies of  the  day,  further  proof  of  this  departure  from  the  faith. 
But  that  all  may  see  that  we  are  dealing  with  realities  and 
speaking  of  things  not  of  a  former  age  or  among  another  gen- 
eration, the  following  account  of  the  recent  examination  of  a 
candidate  in  Thelogy,  is  extracted  from  the  Presbyterian. 

"It  has  happened  to  me  lately  to  attend  an  ordaining  council 
in  Massachusetts,  and  as  the  views  of  theology,  developed  by 
the  examination  of  the  candidate,  are  generally  understood  to 
be  the  same  as  now  taught  at  Andover,  indeed  one  of  the 
Professors  of  that  Institution  was  a  member  of  the  council,  and 
as  it  was  publicly  declared,  that  this  young  man  was  as  sound 
as  half  the  ministers  of  the  State,  it  is  certainly  proper  that 
the  Christian  public  should  know  what  these  views  are. 

1.  There  was  a  full  denial  of  original  sin.  Sin  was  defined 
to  be  actual  transgression  exclusively.  The  term  original  sin 
might  be  used,  but  altogether  in  an  another  sense  ;  signifying 
only  such  a  disordered  state,  that  the  first  moral  act  would 
be  sinful.  But  this  bias  is  not  transgression,  is  not  sin,  and 
does  not  expose  to  eternal  punishment.  And  indeed,  what- 
ever original  sin  is,  God  is  its  author.  No  such  thing  as 
desert  can  be  predicated  of  a  creature  before  moral  action. 

2.  He  asserted,  that  nothing  in  original  sin  infringed  a  man?s 
liberty  to  do  good  as  well  as  evil.  Every  man  has  the  same 
full  and  perfect  ability  to  obey  the  whole  law  of  God,  that 
the  questioner  had  to  walk  to  the  door.  It  is  only  to  form 
the  same  determination  of  the  will  in  the  one  case,  as  in  the 
other.     "  There  is  no  foundation  of  evil  back  of  the  will."' 

3.  He  denied  the  vicarious  atonement.  Christ  did  in  no 
sense  obey  the  law  for  us  :  nor  did  He  suffer  the  penalty  for 
our  sins.  The  law  of  God  will  stand  for  ever  a  broken  law, 
having  never  received  the  obedience  which  it  demands,  nor 


i 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

the  penalty  which  it  denounces  upon  the  transgressor.  The 
work  of  Christ  had  no  respect  to  this,  but  was  a  something 
else  substituted  for  it.  And  men  are  justified,  not  by  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  imputed  to  them,  but  "in  consequence 
of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  :"  the  phrase  of  Dr.  Dewey  and 
the  Unitarians. 

4.  He  denied  any  direct  and  immediate  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  on  the  heart  in  regeneration.  Regeneration  is  through 
the  truth,  and  cannot  be  without  the  truth,  and  a  mind  capa- 
ble of  understanding  it.  Faith  and  repentance  are  produced 
by  a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  are  themselves  regeneration. 
There  is  no  direct  act  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  heart  apart 
from  the  presentation  of  the  truth  :  i.  e.  "  moral  suasion." 

However,  he  would  not  say,  that  an  infant  could  not  be 
changed  before  becoming  a  sinner  ;  L  e.  before  actual  trans- 
gression. God  can  create  a  new  spirit ;  and  so  he  supposed 
it  not  beyond  His  power  to  change  one  already  created. — 
But  he  did  not  know  how  such  a  change  could  be  effected, 
nor  did  he  think  such  a  change  probable.  If  so  changed,  it 
would  not  be  holy,  but  only  have  the  tendency  to  holiness. 
The  first  act  of  such  an  infant  would  be  holy :  it  would  never 
become  a  sinner,  and  would  never  need  a  Saviour  from  sin  : 
nor  could  it  be  saved  from  actual  sin. 

He  said  also  that  as  regeneration  consisted  in  the  change 
of  faith  and  repentance,  there  might  be  fifty  different  modes 
of  effecting  it. 

I  submit  this  bold  denial  of  the  faith  without  note  or  com- 
ment, only  saying  that  such  views  as  these  are  alarmingly 
prevalent  in  New  England,  and  on  some  points  are  known 
with  certainty  to  be  entertained  by  the  new  Professor  of 
Theology  at  Andover." 

The  Romish  doctors  who  resisted  Luther,  never  departed 
so  far  from  the  truth.  The  theology  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
is  hardly  so  corrupt  or  so  barefaced  a  denial  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel.     Yet  with  some  reservations,  evasions 


# 


« 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

and  apologies,  the  New  York  Evangelist,  the  organ  of  the 
New  School  Presbyterians,  substantially  vindicates  this 
denial  of  "  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  and  cari- 
catures after  the  manner  of  the  Romish  divines  the  very 
doctrines  which  are  plainly  taught  in  the  confession  of  faith, 
which  every  Presbyterian  minister  subscribes  at  his  ordina- 
tion ! 

If  we  are  not  able  to  bring  the  questions  before  the  Chris- 
tian public  in  the  usual  controversial  way,  we  can  yet  appeal 
to  the  piety  of  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  receive  him 
as  the  "  the  author  and  finisher  of  their  faith,"  the  "  end  of 
the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth."  It 
is  one  of  the  arts  of  errorists,  to  cover  with  the  mantle  of 
charity,  the  false  opinions  by  which  they  undermine  the  gos- 
pel, to  talk  about  the  bitterness  of  controversy,  (which  they 
have  provoked)  to  lament  over  divisions  which  they  have 
made,  and  so  if  it  were  possible  to  deceive  the  very  elect. 

In  the  following,  I  think  Mr.  Cheeseman  has  presented  his 
subject  in  a  manner  which  appeals  to  the  pious  feelings,  to 
the  Christian  emotions  of  every  renewed  heart.  He  may 
not  have  avoided  all  the  severity  which  controversy  engen- 
ders, but  he  has  succeeded  beyond  my  expectations  in  giving 
a  practical  character  to  the  work.  There  is  an  application 
of  the  great  principles  of  the  gospel  as  he  passes  along,  a 
flow  of  devotion,  a  kindling  of  the  religious  sensibilities, 
which  must  lead  those  who  commence  its  perusal  to  the  con- 
clusion of  the  work.  He  makes  the  practical  power  of  the 
doctrines  of  grace  and  redemption,  so  manifest,  that  the  eyes 
of  all  unprejudiced  persons  can  hardly  fail  to  be  opened,  and 
if  I  mistake  not,  there  will  be  left  upon  the  mind  of  every 
reader,  an  impression  of  the  importance  of  these  great  truths 
for  which  we  stand  in  a  day  of  darkness  and  rebuke. 


m 


DIFFERENCES  BETWEEN 

OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL 

PRESBYTERIANS. 


# 


• 


if 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    DIFFERENCES    BETWEEN    OLD    AND    NEW 
SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 


The  secession — Its  causes — Changes  in  Church  government  and  operations 
by  the  New  School  no  improvement — Separation  necessary  to  a  refor- 
mation. 


The  divisions  which  exist  between  Old  and  New  School 
Presbyterians,  are  calculated  to  produce  any  thing  but  plea- 
surable emotions  in  the  bosoms  of  those  who  have  been 
wont  to  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem.  And  whatever 
can  be  done  to  unite  in  one  body,  those  who  are  already 
united  in  their  views  of  church  government  and  of  doctrinal 
and  experimental  religion,  ought  to  be  done  by  the  friends  of 
Zion. 

The  disowning  act  of  1837,  has  been  extensively  misunder- 
stood. It  has  hitherto  been  represented,  as  an  act  by  which 
four  Synods  were  excommunicated  for  heresy,  and  that  with- 
out a  trial  ;  when  many  individual  ministers  and  churches  and 
even  whole  Presbyteries,  thus  unjustly  and  summarily  con- 
demned, were  sound  in  the  faith,  But  when  that  act  is  care- 
fully examined,  it  will  be  found  that  it  excommunicated  no 
one,  and  that  it  really  separated  no  single  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter or  church  from  the  General  Assembly.  While  it  disowned 
as  unconstitutional,  organizations  compounded  of  Presbyterian 
and  Congregational  churches,  it  made  provision  for  all  who 
were  truly  Presbyterian,  and  gave  them  specific  directions  as 
to  the  course,  which  under  their  peculiar  circumstances  it  was 

2 


18        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

expedient  for  them  to  pursue.  An  act  of  dismemberment  so 
suicidal  as  this  is  represented  to  have  been,  has  no  precedent 
in  the  history  of  the  church.  And  while  the  desire  of  church 
extension  remains  so  distinguishing  an  element  in  all  denomi- 
national effort,  it  cannot  be  reasonably  believed,  that  so  large 
and  respectable  a  body  as  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  could  so  deliberately  violate  every  principle 
.of  self  love,  and  ecclesiastical  policy,  as  is  implied  in  this 
groundless  imputation. 

The  subsequent  secession  of  a  large  and  respectable  body 
of  ministers  and  churches  ;  the  organization  of  a  New  Gen- 
Assembly  ;  their  claim  to  be  the  Constitutional  General 
mbly  ;  the  suit  at  law  instituted  by  them  to  obtain  the 
name   and   the  funds  of  the  church,  and  its  final  decision 
against  them,  are  events  which  belong  to  the  history  of  past 
roversies  and  alienations,  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will 
never  be  renewed. 

The  act  of  1837,  cannot  be  believed  to  have  been  the  cause 
of  that  secession.  Had  there  existed  no  other  causes,  this 
ted  act,  even  though  regarded  as  unconstitutional,  would 
r  have  formed  in  the  minds  of  reasonable  men,  a  justifia- 
ble foundation  for  a  course  so  extraordinary.  Had  there 
been  no  other  causes  in  operation,  the  secession,  it  is  believed, 
would  never  have  taken  place  :  but  such  causes  were  in  opera- 
tion.  These  causes  had  embarrassed  the  church  for  years  in 
all  her  assemblies  and  in  all  her  efforts.  The  secesion  was  not 
impulsive  but  deliberate  ;  men  had  grown  weary  of  debate,  and 
I  become  chilled  and  alienated  in  their  affections,  by  serious 
differences  in  ecclesiastical  policy  and  in  doctrinal  and  prac- 
tical Christianity.  The  bond  that  united  them  to  the  Presby- 
terian Church  was  not  of  the  heart,  and  could  not  be.  while 
th  y  entertained  views  fundamentally  at  variance  with  her 
standards  and  her  interests,  and  which  brought  them  in  per- 
petual conflict  with  their  brethren.  This  frail  bond,  therefore, 
v  as  easily  cast  off,  and  that  without  regret,  and  for  a  very 


ECCLESIASTICAL    DIFFERENCES.  19 

insufficient  ostensible  reason.     A  new  organization  has  been 
the  result. 

This  new  organization  has  termed  itself  triennial.  It  does 
not  meet  annually,  as  does  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  whose  sessions  have  always  been 
annual,  and  are  found  by  long  experience,  not  to  be  too  fre- 
quent for  a  proper  supervision  of  the  churches,  and  for  a  vig- 
orous and  effective  prosecution  of  the  great  work  of  educa- 
tion and  missions.  The  seceders  have  at  length  discovered 
their  error,  and  have  endeavored  to  remedy  it  by  annual 
conventions,  and  finally  by  an  annual  adjournment,  which 
last  step  has  involved  them  in  controversy  among  themselves. 
While  professing  to  improve  by  introducing  a  new  order  of 
things,  they  have  found  that  change  is  not  improvement. 

Their  assembly  is  not  an  appellate  court  ;  and  the  case  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Graham,  who  appeared  before  them  for  the  re- 
dress of  grievances,  at  their  late  meetings  at  Philadelphia 
and  at  Cincinnatti,  has  discovered  the  imbecility  of  a  body, 
which  could  not  do  what  it  was  so  desirable  and  proper  it 
should  have  done  :  it  having  formally  abandoned  so  excellent 
a  provision  of  the  constitution.  The  man  who  ought  to  have 
had  the  judgment  of  the  whole  church  in  her  collective  wis- 
dom on  his  case,  was  compelled,  either  to  be  condemned  by 
one  court,  and  justified  by  another  of  the  same  grade,  or  to 
abandon  an  organization  which  contained  in  itself  the  ele- 
ments  of  its  own  dissolution. 

The  great  head  of  the  church  has  committed  to  her,  in  her 
organized  capacity,  the  solemn  and  momentous  work  of 
evangelizing  the  world.  "  Out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law, 
and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem.  Go  ye  therefore, 
into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 
And  the  church  can  never  cast  off  this  obligation,  by  commit- 
ting the  hi^h  and  sacred  trust  to  voluntary  associations,  which 
have  neither  ecclesiastical  existence  or  responsibility,  and 
which  are  to  take  the  whole  work  out  of  her  hands  and  to 


ft 


20        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

do  it  for  her.  These  views  have  been  opposed  by  the 
New  School,  and  they  could  not  be  satisfied  until  they  had 
made  experiments  on  a  different  plan. 

.  The  American  Board,  through  which  their  charities  have 
hitherto  flowed,  belongs  no  more  to  them  than  to  us  ;  and  as 
they  have  no  organizations  of  their  own,  and  do  next  to  noth- 
ing in  their  own  appropriate  capacity  as  a  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  spread  the  gospel ;  and  as  they  witness  amfong  them- 
selves, a  growing  apathy  on  the  subject  of  missions,  and  are 
feeling  the  fatal  drain  from  surrounding  and  enterprising  de- 
nominations, they  are  beginning  to  think  soberly  of  a  change, 
and  will  probably  ere  long,  retract  all  they  have  ever  said 
against  ecclesiastical  organizations. 

The  recent  attack  of  some  of  their  leading  bodies  on  the 
American  Tract  Society,  for  mutilating  the  works  of  Dr.  D' 
Aubigne,  had  no  other  origin  in  the  judgment  of  many,  than 
a  desire  to  cover  their  retreat,  and  to  create  at  once,  organi- 
zations of  their  own.  One  of  their  leading  men  said  to  me 
not  long  since,  "  The  Old  School  on  this  subject  were  right. 
and  we  were  wrong."  This  opinion  must  ultimately  prevail 
among  them,  or  their  growth  and  success  is  at  an  end.  The 
American  Board  is  falling  back  for  support  on  the  New  Eng- 
land churches,  where  it  originated  and  where  it  belongs. — 
The  Presbyterian  Church  is  increasing  in  her  efforts  and  con- 
tributions, in  a  degree  wholly  unprecedented  in  any  former 
period  of  her  existence.  Other  denominations,  by  appealing 
to  the  just  attachments  of  their  own  communicants  to  their 
own  principles,  are  increasing  in  strength  and  effort ;  and 
unless  the  New  School,  abandon  their  position  on  this  ques- 
tion, they  will  gradually  weaken  their  own  denominational, 
bonds,  and  ultimately  dissolve  them  altogether.  Mutual  affini- 
ties, social  and  religious,  require  to  be  cherished  and  strength- 
ened by  opening  for  them  their  natural  and  appropriate  chan- 
nel- 

What,  then,  after  a  fair  and  unmolested  experiment  of  ten 


ECCLESIASTICAL    DIFFERENCES.  21 

years'?  what  great  and  good  end  has  been  attained  by  thesf 
various  novelties  in  Presbyterianism  ]  and  what  can  we  ex- 
pect to  gain  by  that  other  proposed  novelty,  an  independent 
Synod  in  Western  New  York  l  If  brethren  are  dissatisfied 
with  their  present  connection  with  the  Synod  of  Genesee, 
why  do  they  not  at  once  unite  with  the  Synod  of  Buffalo  1 
What  call  is  there  for  covering  this  same  field  with  a  third 
fraction  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  1  If,  as  they  affirm,  they 
differ  in  no  respect  from  the  Old  School  body,  but  prefer  it 
to  all  others,  why  not  unite  with  it  1  They  judge  very  in- 
correctly, if  they  regard  the  transition,  which  would  be  made 
by  forming  a  union  with  a  body  to  which  the  churcrfcs  once 
belonged,  and  to  which  they  now  legitimately  belong,  as  more 
abrupt  than  would  be  a  transition  to  independency,  a  transition 
which  with  all  their  efforts,  they  have  not  been  able  to  make, 
and  which  I  am  confident  with  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  all  their  plans  and  tendencies  they  never  will  make. 

Neither  will  they  ever  join  us  in  a  body.  If  they  wait  for 
that  period  to  arrive,  they  will  always  wait ;  if  they  ever  re- 
sume their  connection  with  our  church,  they  will  do  it  as 
others  have  done  it :  they  will  do  it  as  individuals  and  as 
churches.  Have  the  churches  of  the  sixteenth  century 
which  fell  off  into  Socinian  error,  yet  returned  to  their  for- 
mer orthodoxy  1  Three  hundred  years  is  a  long  period  to 
wait.  Have  the  churches  of  Massachusetts,  which  fell  into 
the  Unitarian  error,  yet  returned  1  Those  who  have  waited 
there,  are  now  conscious  that  they  have  waited  too  long,  and 
are  beginning  to  awake  from  their  delusive  dreams  ;  and  if 
these  brethren  wait  until  the  Rochester  Presbytery,  or  any 
other  Presbytery  in  the  Synod  of  Genesee,  shall  as  a  body- 
correct  its  errors,  abandon  its  Pelagianism,  and  resume  its 
connection  with  the  General  Assembly,  they  may  wait  till 
their  cold  remains  and  mine  shall  moulder  underneath  the 
clods  of  the  valley. 

I  do  not  contend  for  mere  organizations.     Organizations 

O  C3 


22        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

can  be  of  but  little  account  except  as  they  are  a  Scriptural 
means  to  an  end ;  in  this  respect,  some  are  greatly  to  be 
preferred  above  others.  Among;  these  the  Presbyterian  holds 
the  first  rank  in  our  esteem,  and  Presbyterians  should  be  the 
last  to  distrust  or  forsake  it.  It  is  valuable  to  me,  not  simply 
as  it  is  an  organization,  but  as  it  is  authorized  by  the  word 
of  God,  honored  by  his  providence,  blessed  by  the  inhabi- 
tation of  his  spirit,  and  has  always  borne  the  testimony  of 
Jesus. 

When  the  minority  of  a  body  become  unsound,  there  is  no 
remedy  but  excision.  When  the  majority  become  unsound, 
there  it  no  remedy  but  secession.  Error  desires  nothing, 
demands  nothing  but  toleration.  It  is  sure  of  ultimate  suc- 
cess if  let  alone.  Its  advocates,  to  prevent  alarm,  maintain  that 
the  differences  are  but  slight,  perhaps  merely  verbal,  or  at 
most  philosophical,  and  frown  at  suspicion  and  inquiry  as  cal- 
culated to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  church.  They  are  the 
friends  of  union,  but  break  up  its  foundations  and  "mine  on 
in  darkness."  Error  is  more  congenial  than  truth  ;  the 
love  of  it  is  the  normal  state,  and  its  power  of  assimilation  in 
this  world  is  greater  than  that  of  truth.  The  gospel  wins  its 
way,  and  maintains  its  advantages  against  the  current.  Er- 
ror floats  with  it,  and  gains  its  destination  without  lifting  an  oar. 
Truth  in  this  world  is  an  exotic.  Error  is  indigenous.  The 
former  cannot  live  but  by  constant  protection  ;  the  latter 
thrives  without  it.  Error,  therefore,  needs  nomine-  but  toler- 
ation  in  any  communion,  for  its  spread  and  success.  The 
only  successful  preventative  is  excision  or  secession.  To  this 
rule  there  can  be  found  no  exception  in  the  history  of  the  past 

Our  Lord  when  he  appeared  in  Judea,  found  the  Jews  in 
a  state  of  apostacy,  and  after  a  brief  call  to  repentance  and 
reformation,  that  people  were  abandoned  to  their  fate,  or 
rather,  were  excommunicated  from  the  church  of  God.  The 
decree  is  contained  in  the  following  statement ;  "  The  king- 
dom of  God  shall  be  taken  from  you,  and  shall  be  given  to  a 


ECCLESIASTICAL    DIFFERENCES.  23 

people  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof."  This  is  an  example 
of  high  antiquity  and  of  great  authority,  and  every  subse- 
quent experiment  has  justified  its  wisdom. 

The  Church  of  Rome  was  long  acknowledged  by  her 
friends  to  be  in  a  state  of  alarming  declension,  and  the 
efforts  in  favor  of  a  reformation  were  numerous,  wTide-spread, 
and  long  continued.  The  celebrated  Council  of  Constance 
assembled  for  no  other  end  than  to  reform  it ;  yet  that  Coun- 
cil dissolved  without  effecting  its  object.  •  The  learned 
Erasmus  sought  the  reformation  of  the  Church  of  Rome  as 
an  end  ;  he  condemned  separation  from  it,  he  would  not 
secede,  but  reform  ;  his  whole  life  was  wasted  in  worse- 
then  useless  controversy,  and  he  died  at  length  disappoin 
and  broken  hearted.  The  early  reformers  sought  at  first 
a  change  in  the  church  without  a  separation  ;  but  they  came 
to  a  better  judgment  in  time  to  prevent  another  and  a  total 
failure.  They  acted  upon  the  model  left  them  by  their  Lord, 
and  their  success  began  with  their  imitation  of  that  model  : 
with  their  total  separation  from  the  Church  of  Rome. 

Organizations  give  to  principles  a  formal  existence,  and 
bring  them  at  once  within  the  range  of  a  possible  propagation 
and  succession.  But  without  them  they  are  as  spirits  with- 
out bodies  ;  they  awaken  no  sympathies  among  men  ;  they 
are  not  felt,  because  they  are  not  known  ;  they  have  no 
general  and  permanent  visibility,  and  therefore  can  exert  no 
general  and  permanent  influence.  Whitefield  visited  this 
country  and  labored  with  unexampled  popularity  and  succc 
yet  he  has  left  no  permanent  imprint  of  his  opinions  on  the; 
character  of  the  American  people.  They  expired  with  his 
personal  ministry,  because  he  gave  them  no  existence  in  an 
organization.  Wesley,  who  appeared  here  at  the  same  time, 
was  far  more  provident,  and  gave  to  his  opinions  a  permanent 
home  in  the  bosom  of  an  organization  ;  and  though  his  voice 
is  no  more  heard,  his  venerable  form  no  more  seen  among 
his  followers,  yet  he  continues  to  direct  their  labors,  and  to 


24        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

fix  and  control  their  sentiments.  Dr.  Witherspoon  engaged 
in  an  effort  to  reform  the  Church  of  Scotland,  but  gave  up  in 
despair,  and  came  to  America.  He  united  with  our  body,  and 
preached  the  sermon  at  the  organization  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  1789.  Reform  measures  have  more  or  less  ex- 
isted since  his  day,  in  the  Kirk  which  he  felt  it  his  duty  to 
abandon  ;  and  during  the  last  twenty  years,  the  controversy 
has  received  new  life  from  the  opposition  made  to  the  godly 
and  earnest  endeavor  after  a  thorough  reformation.  The 
middle  party  took  their  usual  position  between  truth  and 
error,  and  became  the  most  efficient  supporters  of  the  lat- 
ter. Dr.  Witherspooiis  ecclesiastical  characteristics  are  as 
descriptive  now,  as  they  were  ninety  years  ago  of  these 
moderate,  no-party  men,  who  become  "fierce  for  modera- 
tion/' The  sound  portion  of  the  church,  however,  have  after 
a  long  and  failing  struggle,  at  length  resorted  to  the  true 
and  only  remedy,  separation ;  and  by  this  movement  have 
put  themselves  hi  the  way  of  the  most  wonderful  reforma- 
tion in  modern  times.  United  with  the  Kirk,  thev  were  the 
Nazarite  shorn  of  his  locks  ;  separated  from  it,  the  pillars 
of  Erastianism  already  quake  at  their  approach. 

The  necessity  and  utility  of  an  organization,  under  our 
own  control,  to -contain  and  to  continue  our  doctrines,  is  ursjed 
upon  us  then,-  by  the  entire  experience  and  wisdom  of  the 
past.  Those  Presbyterians,  who  remain- in  the  New  School 
organization  to  reform  it,  or  who  unite  with  it  from  our  body 
for  that  purpose,  are  worse  than  dead  to  us,  and  to  the  cause 
of  reform.  Neither  their  wisdom  nor  power  to  manage 
and  control  unsound  bodies,  can  be  believed  to  surpass  all 
those  who  have  gone  before  them,  and  who  have  invariably 
failed  in  the  same  effort.  It  is  useless  to  urge  that  the  pres- 
ent case  is  an  exception  to  the  rule  ;  it  has  not  proved  itself 
an  exception  hitherto,  and  it  never  will.  Those  therefore, 
who  fall  into  the  snare  of  these  abortive  policies,  need  no 
prophet  to  assure  them  of  the  inevitable  result. 


ECCLESIASTICAL    DIFFERENCES.  25 

It  must  be  painful,  also,  to  occupy  a  false  position,  to 
disguise  our  real  designs,  and  to  practice  on  a  confidence 
which  would  be  withheld  at  once  from  us  if  we  were  thor- 
oughly understood,  if  we  were  as  transparent  as  we  ought 
to  be,  if  we  were  "an  epistle  known  and  read  of  all  men."' 
Services  so  equivocal,  not  to  say  disreputable  and  sinful,  are 
not  required  of  the  ;'  children  of  the  light  and  of  the  daw"' 
and  though  they  may  acquire  a  temporary  popularity,  they 
must  end  in  shame.  There  is  withal  a  most  undesirable 
habit  formed,  under  circumstances  so  unfavorable  to  the 
culture  and  exercise  of  candor  and  integrity.     We  become 

O  ml 

practiced  in  the  low  arts  of  cunning,  deception,  and  manage- 
ment, and  weaken  and  destroy  a  most  lovelv  trait  in  Christ* 

ml  » 

ian  character.  But  aside  from  the  impropriety  of  the  course 
itself,  in  its  own  nature,  no  enlightened  friend  of  our  church 
can  pursue  it  long,  with  an  honest  design  to  benefit  our  cause; 
for  he  places  himself  at  once  in  opposition  to  it  by  his  posi- 
tion, his  efforts,  and  his  influence. 

His  position  is  that  of  an  antagonist. 

His  efforts  weaken  our  existing  organizations,  by  drawing 
from  them  our  ministers  and  members.  They  become 
necessary  to  his  success,  his  most  reliable  auxiliaries  in  his 
revolutionary  movement ;  and,  should  he  find  us  on  the 
alert,  and  unable  to  appreciate  either  his  wisdom  or  his  ill- 
advised  friendship — if  he  do  not  at  length  become  restive, 
and  give  us  hard  names,  and  prejudice  our  cause  in  the  very 
quarter  in  which  he  went  to  strengthen  it,  he  will  prove 
the  first  exception  with  which  I  have  ever  met.  I  know  no 
one  as  yet  who  has  been  captivated  by  these  ambiguous  pol- 
icies, who  has  not  ultimately  been  ensnared  in  this  manner, 
and  done  more  to  alienate  our  friends,  weaken  our  cause, 
and  provoke  opposition,  than  those  who  were  always  open 
and  avowed  in  their  enmities. 

Those  also  who  are  retained  in  an  unsound  connection  by 
.  this  influence  will  remain  there  from  the  same  cause  ;  and 


26  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

their  names,  their  property,  and  their  offspring,  will  be  lost 
to  our  church.  In  a  few  more  years,  the  present  incumbents 
of  these  pulpits  will  be  no  more  ;  and  however  useful  they 
may  have  been  in  their  personal  ministry,  they  cannot 
control  the  succession.  That  is  in  other  hands,  and  will  be 
much  more  likely  to  take  its  complexion  from  the  living  than 
from  the  dead  ;  from  the  body  in  which  they  have  left  their 
churches,  than  from  the  pastor's  remembered  wishes.* 

In  whatever  light,  then,  this  policy  is  examined,  whether 
with  reference  to  the  past  or  the  present,  its  character  or 
tendency,  it  but  strengthens  our  position — that  the  true  rem- 
edv  against  error,  is  the  maintainance  of  the  gospel  in  sep- 
arate organizations  ;  and  that  the  expectation  o'f  success,  in 
any  other  way,  will  invariably  end  in  disappointment. 

The  churches  here  have  listened  to  one  side  of  the  question 
only.  We  never  have  been  permitted  to  plead  our  cause 
before  them,  and  many  of  them,  therefore,  are  made  to 
believe  themselves  to  be  in  the  very  body  by  which  they 
were  originally  organized.  Did  they  know  that  they  were 
not  ;  that  they  had  been  kept  in  the  dark  by  interested  indi- 
viduals ;  had,  without  a  fall  and  sufficient  examination  of  the 
question,  without  a  fair  and  impartial  presentation  of  it  in  all 
its  aspects,  been  drawn  off  into  a  new  organization  ;  an  or- 
ganization scarcely  ten  years  old  ;  an  organization  changed 
in  its  forms,  and  changed  in  its  doctrines  ;    there  are  many 


*  I  little  expected  when  this  was  penned,  that  before  it  would  be  in  type, 
my  best  friend,  and  most  reliable  counselor,  the  Rev.  Norris  Bull,  D.  D. 
would  be  no  more.  His  piety,  integrity,  perseverance,  skill,  and  courage  ; 
his  great  intellectual  endowments,  and  his  remarkable  power  over  delibera- 
tive  assemblies,  qualified  him  preeminently  for  success  in  the  difficult  cirjum- 
etanees  in  which  he  was  placed  All  eyes  were  turned  toward  him  as  tho 
leader  of  a  forlorn  hope  in  the  Synod  of  Genesee.  And  when  one  by  one 
his  friends  forsook  him,  because  they  deemed  the  contest  in  which  he  was 
engaged,  hopeless,  and  yet  saw  him  almost  alone  and  with  unbroken  reso- 
lution, still  battling  with  his  destiny,  they  could  not  but  admire,  and  some- 
times hope  for  partial  success  from  his  singular  perseverence.  But  now  thai 
he  rests  from  his  labors,  every  expectation  of  reforming  even  a  single  Pres- 
bytery,  is   buried   with   him. 


ECCLESIASTICAL   DIFFERENCES.  27 

decided  Presbyterians  who  would  not  long  remain  where 
they  are,  but  would  avail  themselves  of  the  earliest  favora- 
ble opportunity  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  act 
of  1837,  and  would  resume  their  connection  with  our 
church. 

I  know  men  who  tremble  in  their  places  lest  the  truth 
should  be  known  on  this  subject,  whose  whole  efforts  are  di- 
rected to  suppress  inquiry  by  scandalous  imputations,  or  by 
bringing  up  false  issues,  and  who  look  upon  a  fair  discussion 
as  calculated  to  benefit  any  but  themselves.  If,  however, 
our  cause  is  to  be  defended  by  such  weapons,  it  shall  not 
be  by  our  hands.  It  is  of  God,  and  it  will  stand.  If  it  is 
not  of  Him,  let  it  perish  ;  it  is  not  worth  preserving. 


CHAPTER  II. 


DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    BETWEEN    OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL 
PRESBYTERIANS. 


Sufferings  of   Christ — The  New  School  deny  their  penal   nature — They 
were  penal. 


The  published  works  of  leading  divines,  give  character 
to  their  respective  communions.  The  published  works  of 
Arius  and  Arminius,  not  the  creeds  which  they  respectively 
subscribed,  and  which  were  sufficiently  sound,  but  their 
own  expositions  of  their  creed,  are  the  sources  to  which  we 
resort  to  ascertain  their  opinions  and  those  of  their  followers. 
And  in  like  manner,  not  the  creed  alone  of  the  New  School 
body,  but  their  explanations  of  that  creed  as  contained  in  the 
widely  circulated  writings  of  their  leading  and  influential  di- 
vines, are  another  and  an  ultimate  criterion,  to  which  we 
must  resort  to  ascertain  what  is  really  their  denominational 
theology.  To  shrink  from  this  most  reasonable  test,  or  to  at- 
tempt to  evade  it  by  denying  its  correctness,  is  not  only  sus- 
picious, but  prima  facie  evidence  of  conscious  weakness  and 
guilt.  It  is  in  effect  to  resolve  society  into  its  original  and 
independent  elements,  and  to  destroy  the  very  principle  of 
associated  responsibility. 

The  declaration  of  independency  on  the  part  of  the  Roch- 
ester Presbytery,  so  long  as  it  is  a  mere  declaration,  can 
form  no  exception  in  their  favor.  If  it  had  been  carried 
out ;  if  they  had  broken  connection  with  the  New  School 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  29 

body,  and  formed  an  organization  under  their  own  control, 
they  would  have  secured  our  confidence.  But  for  them  to 
affirm  that  they  are  independent,  and  not  responsible  for  the 
New  School  errors,  and  at  the  same  time  to  remain  as  they 
do  in  the  New  School  connection,  is,  to  say  the  softest  thing 
we  can  of  it,  disingenuous  and  calculated  to  deceive.  Were 
not  the  members  of  the  Rochester  Presbvterv  grenerallv 
present  at  the  late  session  of  their  Synod,  and  did  they  not 
hear  the  Moderator,*  in  his  Synodical  Sermon,  distinctly, 
solemnly,  and  with  emphasis,  declare  that  "  Jesus  Christ  did 
not  suffer  the  penalty  of  the  law  nor  any  part  of  it  ]"  And 
what  has  that  Presbytery  done,  and  what  has  that  Synod  done, 
to  rebuke  this  bold  denial  of  the  Gospel  1  And  can  these 
brethren  be  ignorant  of  the  tolerated  Pelagian  and  Socinian 
errors  which  infest  the  whole  body  1  Surely  the  claim  to 
orthodoxy  and  independency  under  such  circumstances,  is  a 
claim  which  few  can  respect  but  themselves.  If  I  could 
possibly  understand  their  position  as  they  appear  to  under- 
stand it,  I  should  be  happy  to  make  an  exception  in  their 
favor  ;  but  as  it  is,  they  must  be  held  to  the  proposed  test  in 
common  with  the  rest  of  their  brethren. 

Dr.  Beman,  whose  work  on  the  Atonement,  is  hailed  by 
the  last  Moderator  of  the  New  School  General  Assembly, 
Dr.  Cox,  "  with  devout  salutation,  commendation,  and  bene- 
diction," maintains  that  Christ  did  not  endure  the  penalty  of 
the  law  ;  that  his  sufferings  were  in  no  sense  penal  ;  whereas 
the  Scriptures  affirm  that  the  "  chastisement  or  punishment 
of  our  peace  was  upon  Him  ;"  that  the  M  Lord  did  lay 
upon  Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all  ;"  Isaiah  53. — and  that 
"  Christ  has  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being 
made  a  curse  for  us."     Galatians  hi.  13. 

"That  Jesus  Christ  did  not  die  in. the  strict  and  literal 
sense,  as  the  substitute  of  His  people,  or  in  the  room  of  those 


Rev.  Wm.  F.  Curry. 


30       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

who  will  finally  be  saved,  may  be  established  beyond  all  rea- 
sonable doubt — beyond  all  enlightened  controversy."  *  *  * 
"  The  law  can  have  no  penal  demand  except  against  the  of- 
fender. With  a  substitute  it  has  no  concern  ;  and  though  a 
thousand  substitutes  should  die,  the  law  in  itself  considered, 
and  left  to  its  own  natural  operation,  would  have  the  same 
demand  on  the  transgressor  which  it  always  had.  This  claim 
can  never  be  invalidated.  This  penal  demand  can  never 
be  extinguished."  *  *  *  *  "  The  penalty  of  the  law, 
strictly  speaking,  was  not  inflicted  at  all."  #  *  *  *  "The 
whole  legal  system  has  been  suspended,"  at  least,  for  the 
present,  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  operation  of  one  of  a  dif- 
ferent character."  (Dr.  Bemanon  Atonement,  pp.  96.  133.) 
Whereas,  the  Scriptures  affirm  that  it  is  not  suspended  at 
all  ;  that  "  till  Heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  one  jot  or  one 
tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled ;" 
Math.  v.  18. — and  that  Christ  who  "  was  made  sin  for  us 
who  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness 
of  God  in  Him  ;"  2,  Cor.  v.  21. — "  is  the  end  of  the  law  for 
righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth."  Rom.  x.  4. 
"  He  hath  magnified  the  law  and  made  it  honorable."  Isa. 
xlii.  21. 

Dr.  Beman  can  see  no  point  in  Dr.  Priestley's  objections 
against  the  doctrine  of  atonement,  as  against  his  own  views, 
for  he  fully  agrees  with  Dr.  Priestly,  that  there  could  be  no 
mercy  in  acquitting  the  guilty,  when  justice  had  already  been 
fully  satisfied  by  a  substitute.  (See  Beman  on  the  Atone- 
ment, p.*  138.) 

The  error  of  Dr.  Beman,  and  his  Unitarian  friend,  must 
be  obvious  to  the  most  ordinary  capacity.  It  assumes  that 
satisfaction,  even  though  it  proceed  from  the  offended  party 
himself,  would  be  no  exhibition  of  mercy  to  the  offender. 
If  this  satisfaction,  however,  had  been  made  byv  some 
being  extraneous  to  the  law  giver,  the  objection  might  have 
force,    but  proceeding  as  it  does  from  the  bosom  of   the 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  31 

ever-blessed  God  himself,  who  both  finds  and  gives  the  ran- 
som, and  who  in  His  infinite  pity  does  not  spare  His  own 
Son  ;  the  objection  is  unscriptural,  and  rests  upon  a  false 
assumption.  If  a  friend  of  an  insolvent  debtor,  were  to  sat- 
isfy the  firm  to  which  he  was  indebted,  their  release  of  him, 
would  not  be  an  act  of  mercy,  but  of  justice.  But  if  the 
partners  of  that  firm  were  themselves,  by  paying  their  equal 
proportions,  to  liquidate  the  claim  against  him,  it  would  give 
a  new  aspect  to  the  whole  affair,  and  it  would  be  idle  to  say 
that  there  was  no  mercy  shown  towards  him  by  his  creditors 
in  thus  themselves  satisfying  the  claims  of  the  firm.  Satis- 
faction, therefore,  to  the  justice  of  God,  does  not  determine 
the  question  whether  mercy  is  exercised  or  not  in  the  sin- 
ner's pardon.  That  is  to  be  determined  by  another  and  dis- 
tinct inquiry,  viz  :  Who  rendered  that,  satisfaction  1  The 
answer  is,  "God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."     John  iii.  16. 

The  notes  of  Mr.  Barnes  are  extensively  circulated,  and 
have  supplanted  Henry,  Scott,  and  the  Catechism,  in  all  the  Bi- 
ble classes  and  Sabbath  schools  here.  They  load  the  shelves 
of  our  book  stores,  and  have  become  the  pocket  companions  of 
religious  teachers  in  the  New  School  body.  Mr.  Barnes  does 
more  to  form  the  religious  opinions  and  characters  of  the  rising 
generation  among  them,  than  all  their  ministers  collectively. 
He  is  more  cautious  than  Dr.  Beman ;  more  skilled  in 
indirection  and  circumlocution  ;  there  is  a  blandness  and 
sanctity  in  his  manner  that  puts  you  off  your  guafd  when 
you  read  him  ;  his  blows  are  more  in  the  dark,  and  then  he 
says  so  many  kind  things  afterwards,  and  makes  so  many 
concessions,  you  can  hardly  believe  it  was  he.  But  still, 
after  a  careful  and  thorough  examination,  I  am  prepared  to 
say,  that  Mr.  Barnes  and  Dr.  Beman  teach  the  same  doc- 
trine  on  the  subject  of  the  atonement. 

On  2  Cor.  v.  21,  "  He  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us."     In 


• 


32  OLD    AND    NEW   SCHOOL   PRESBYTERIANS. 

his  third  inquiry,  his  language  is,  "  Can  it  mean  that  he  wasr 
in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word,  guilty]  For  no  one  is 
truly  guilty  who  is  not  personally  a  transgressor  of  the  law  ; 
and  if  he  was  in  any  proper  sense  guilty,  then  he  deserved 
to  die,  and  his  death  could  have  no  more  merit  than  that  of 
any  other  guilty  being ;  and  if  he  was  properly  guilty,  it 
would  make  no  difference  in  this  respect  whether  it  was  by 
his  own  fault  or  by  imputation."  Again,  on  Gal.  iii.  13  : — 
"  Christ  has  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being 
made  a  curse  for  us."  In  his  fourth  remark,  he  declares 
that,  "  It  cannot  be  meant  that  the  Lord  Jes±is  properly  bore 
the  penalty  of  the  law  ;  His  sufferings  were  in  the  place  of 
the  penalty,  not  the  penalty  itself."  And  in  his  notes  on 
Isai.  liii.  5  :  "  The  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  Him." 
(After  stating  that  the  word,  chastisement,  does  not  of  neces- 
sity denote  punishment,  though  he  admits  that  it  is  frequently 
used  in  that  sense.)  he  declares  that  "  here  it  cannot  properly 
mean  punishment ;"  and  thus,  on  every  proof  text  on  this 
subject,  he  evades  and  denies  the  usual  interpretation,  and 
gives  another.  If  he  has  any  skill  as  a  polemic,  any  know- 
ledge of  the  original  Greek  or  Hebrew,  whatever  he  has  of 
learning  or  of  skill,  it  is  brought  to  bear  against  these  time 
hallowed  turrets  of  an  orthodox  faith.  While  he  professes 
not  to  write  for  the  critical,  but  for  the  common  reader,  he 
puts  forth  all  his  strength  on  these  passages,  and  leaves  not 
a  single  expedient  untried  to  dissatisfy  us  with  the  usual  inter- 
pretation. That  interpretation  is  never  correctly  given,  or 
given  as  it  would  have  been  by  a  Presbyterian.  And  finally, 
we  are  told  that  whatever  else  the  passage  may  mean,  it 
does  not  teach  the  doctrine  contended  for  from  it. 

Take  one  instance,  among  many,  to  illustrate  his  tact  at 
indirection.  On  Rom.  viii.  7  :  "  Because  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God  :  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God, 
neither  indeed  can  be."  He  states  that  "the  apostle  does 
not  express  any  opinion  about  the  metaphysical  ability  of 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  33 

man,  or  discuss  that  question  at  all."  Again  :  "  The  affirma- 
tion does  not  mean  that  the  heart  of  the  sinner  might  not 
be  subject  to  God,  or  that  his  soul  is  so  physically  depraved 
that  he  cannot  obey,  or  that  he  might  not  obey  the  law. 
On  that  subject  the  Apostle  here  expresses  no  opinion  ;  that 
is  not  the  subject  of  discussion."  Here  we  are  told  substan- 
tially, that  the  very  thing  which  the  Apostle  did  say,  he  did 
not  say,  or  at  least  that  he  did  not  mean  to  say  it ;  yea,  that 
he  expressed  no  opinion  on  that  point,  selecting  the  very 
point  on  which  the  Apostle  expresses  himself  in  the  most 
decided  terms,  and  contriving  to  contradict  him  without 
seeming  to  do  so,  and  that  by  an  adroit  introduction  of  the 
words  metaphysical  and  physical.  But  with  all  that  singu- 
lar evasiveness  which  pervades  his  whole  manner,  he  obvi- 
ously agrees  with  the  New  School  on  every  material  question. 

I  need  not  pause  here  to  show  that  these  views  of  the 
death  of  Christ,  are  Unitarian,  not  Presbyterian  ;  that  they 
are  the  former,  and  not  the  latter,  is  quite  certain.*  But  the 
great  objection  to  them,  is,  that  they  are  not  scriptural. — 
Presbyterianism  is  nothing  to  me  as  it  is  Presbyterianism,  but 
as  it  is  the  gospel,  as  it  contains,  and  exhibits  and  defends  if, 
in  that  respect,  it  is  to  me  everything.  Were  not  the  mat- 
ters at  issue  between  us,  of  the  most  serious  nature,  if  these 
errors  were  not  mining  at  the  very  foundations  of  our  hopes 
for  eternity,  I  should  not  have  adventured  before  you  in  this 
form.  Not  to  be  tenacious  of  peculiarities,  to  be  yielding 
and  pliant  in  all  that  does  not  interfere  with  truth  and  right- 
eousness, is  a  lovely  trait  in  christian  character,  a  grace 
which  should  be  sedulously  cultivated,  that  we  may  be  both 
more  agreeable  and  useful ;  but  carried  too  far,  we  may,  and 
often  do,  mar  where  we  intend  to  beautify,  and  ruin,  when 
we  intend  to  save.     Influenced  by  these  considerations,  I 


*  Christ  "felt  and  bore  the  weight  of  God's  wrath."  Lar.  Cat.  Ans.  40. 
"Endured  most  grevious  torments  immediately  in  his  soul."  Con.  of  Faith, 
chap,  viii:  sec.  4. 

3 


34  OLD    AND    NEVVr    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

cannot  pass  these  bold  denials  of  Bible  truth,  without  indulg- 
ing in  further  animadversions  ;  without  attempting  to  send 
the  antidote  with  the  poison. 

What  proof  has  Dr.  Beman  given  beyond  his  own  asser- 
tion, "  That  the  penalty  of  the  law  was  not  inflicted  at  all  V1 
or  Mr.  Barnes,  "  that  if  Christ  were  properly  guilty  by  im- 
putation, his  death  could  have  no  more  merit  than  that  of 
any  other  guilty  being]"  These  are  naked  assertions,  wholly 
unsupported  by  the  word  of  God,  and  I  have  not  yet,  in  all 
they  have  said,  met  with  a  single  attempt  formally  to  prove 
them  from  the  scriptures  by  the  quotation  of  a  solitary  passage 
containing  such  an  idea.  Indeed,  the  scriptures  contain  no 
such  statements,  but  throughout  present  the  opposite  view. 
Hence  the  controversy  between  us  and  the  New  School, 
resembles  that  with  the  Universalists.  We  bring  direct  proof 
texts.  They  bring  none.  We  attack.  They  parry.  We 
bring  the  witnesses.  They  assail  them.  The  Bible  never 
brought  their  system  a  single  shred  to  cover  its  nakedness  ;  it 
is  in  their  way,  and  involves  them  at  once,  and  at  every  step, 
in  a  debate  with  its  obvious  meaning.  Oh  !  what  a  contrast 
is  there  between  the  two  following  statements  : — "  Christ 
hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made  a 
curse  for  us."  Gal.  iii.  13.  "  The  penalty  of  the  law,  strictly 
speaking,  was  not  inflicted  at  all."  Beman  on  Atonement, 
p.  133.  And  how  weak  and  repulsive  the  following  abortive 
attempt  to  obscure  and  pervert  the  obvious  meaning  of  this 
text :  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree."  "  Does 
the  law  say  the  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall — hang  on  a  tree — It 
is  a  curse,  but  not  the  curse  of  the  law."  Beman  on  Atone- 
ment, p.  112.  Yes,  truly  it  was  a  curse.  His  death  by  the 
civil  law  was  penal.  "If  he  had  not  been  a  malefactor."' 
said  his  accusers,  "  we  would  not  have  delivered  him  to 
thee."  He  was  judged  worthy  of  death,  and  that  death  was 
a  judicial  infliction.  The  passage  in  Deut.  xxi.  22,  23,  here 
referred  to,  is  not  cited  by  Paul,  to  prove  that  Christ  endured 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  35 

the  penalty  of  the  civil,  but  of  the  divine  law.  Hence, 
the  apostle  selects  that  part  of  it  which  relates  exclusively  to 
the  latter,  and  not  to  the  former,  to  wit :  "  He  that  hangetii 
on  a  tree  is  accursed  of  God."  He  was  suspended  between 
heaven  and  earth  ;  he  was  not  admitted  to  either,  he  was 
excluded  from  both.  While  his  being  lifted  up,  expressed  as  a 
a  symbolic  action,  the  ignominious  light  in  which  he  was 
viewed  and  treated  by  the  court  on  earth  ;  it  also  expressed 
with  equal  significance,  the  ignominious  light  in  which  he 
was  viewed  and  treated  by  the  court  in  Heaven.  But  the 
ignominy  of  hanging  on  the  tree,  was  too  great  an  honor  for 
one  who  was  "  accursed  of  God."  He  must  not  hang  all 
night  upon  the  tree.  '  That  were  "  an  eye-sore  for  heaven  to 
look  upon."  God  was  now  become  party  to  the  quarrel 
against  his  life,  and  the  wretch  must  be  hid  at  once  in  the 
earth.  "  Thou  shalt  in  any  wise  bury  him  the  same  day." 
in  Gal.  iii.  13,  the  discussion  is  of  the  divine  law,  whose 
terrific  curse  pealed  in  thunder  from  the  burning  mountain, 
and  the  passage  cited  is  in  proof  that  Christ  endured  it.  His 
hanging  on  a  tree  is  the  public  evidence  and  manifestation 
of  the  penal  nature  of  His  sufferings  under  the  divine  law. 
to  wit :  that  he  was  "  accursed  of  God."  The  manner  of* 
his  death  was  previously  and  deliberately  arranged,  that  the 
evidence  of  its  nature  might  be  full,  public  and  conclusive. 
It  was  "  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  fore -knowledge  of 
God."  Acts  ii.  23.  And  it  was  by  the  concurrence  and 
choice  of  Jesus  Christ.  Of  his  life  he  says,  "  I  lay  it  down  of 
myself."  John  x.  18-  Except  for  the  evidence  that  his 
hanging  on  a  tree  would  furnish  of  the  nature  of  the  trans- 
action,  his  death  could  as  well  have  been  by  the  axe,  or  by 
strangulation,  as  by  the  tree.  But  the  manner  of  his  death, 
together  with  the  supernatural  earthquake,  the  strange 
commotion  in  the  grave  yard,  the  midnight  darkness  that 
gathered  on  the  face  of  the  frowning  heavens,  the  confession 
of  the  Centurion,  and  the  remorseful  gesture  of  all  who. 


3G  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

came  together  to  that  sight — mingled  their  testimony  with 
the  expiring  groans  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  called  the  atten- 
tion of  every  intelligence  in  heaven,  earth  and  hell,  to  the 
tree,  to  the  public  evidence  of  a  penal  infliction,  to  the  hor- 
ror, despair  and  woe  of  Him  who  was  "  the  accursed  of  God.'' 
And  yet  Dr.  Beman  can  discover  no  evidence,  that  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ  were  penal,  even  from  the  highest  possible 
evidence  which  could  be  afforded  him  of  that  fact.  And  his 
denial  of  it  is  too  gross  a  contradiction  of  the  word  of  God;  too 
gross  a  violation  of  all  the  principles  of  correct  and  satisfactory 
interpretation,  to  challenge  either  respect  or  confidence. — 
His  assertion  that  the  penalty  of  the  law  was  "  immensely 
another  kind  of  death  in  form,  duration  and  circumstances:*' 
"  that  the  penalty  of  the  law  was  damnation,  or  eternal 
death,."  is  a  puerility  unworthy  of  a  grave  and  learned  di- 
vine. The  damned  have  not  suffered  eternally,  and  yet 
their  sufferings  are  penal,  and  their  entrance  upon  their  final 
state,  by  death,  whether  by  violence  or  by  lingering  disease, 
is  the  hopeless  commencement  of  them.  Every  lost  sinner 
also  suffers  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body  ;  but 
these  deeds  are  not  the  same  in  number  or  aggravation. 
The  suffering  must,  therefore,  vary  in  every  instance. 
Fallen  angels,  also,  who  have  no  bodies,  do  not  suffer 
precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  do  those  who  are  "cast 
both  soul  and  body  into  hell."  Math,  x.  28.  The  penalty 
is  death,  and  that  must  adapt  itself  to  the  nature  and  dignity 
of  the  being  on  whom  it  falls.  Creatures  can  never  remove 
their  obligations  to  endure  it  because  they  are  finite.  The 
eternity  of  their  woe  is  incidental ;  i.  e.,  it  arises  not  from 
the  law,  but  from  their  natures.  The  duration  of  the  suf- 
fering is  not  necessary  to  the  proper  infliction  of  the  penalty, 
(by  whomsoever  endured,)  but  necessary  to  it  when  endured 
by  creatures.  But  the  Son  of  God  was  not  a  creature,  and 
could  exhaust  a  penalty  in  a  limited  period,  which  a  creature 
could  never  exhaust.     It  assailed  him,  and  bruised  his  body, 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  37 

and  bore  him  down  to  the  very  gates  of  hell  ;  but  his 
divinity  consumed  its  strength,  and  bore  it  back,  and  broke 
the  arm  of  its  power.  It  cried  out  for  blood  !  its  cry  was 
remorseless  and  unceasing.  Along  the  flight  of  weary 
centuries,  it  had  made  the  place  of  worship  the  place  of 
continued  slaughter ;  it  had  forever  wasted  the  precious 
life,  and  still  had  demanded  blood.  It  could  not  be  satisfied 
with  the  blood  of  beasts,  it  also  kindled  on  the  souls  of  men, 
drank  up  their  spirits,  and  burned,  and  burned  forever.  But 
when  it  reached  the  Son  of  God,  its  rage  was  spent;  its 
triumphs  ended ;  its  power  destroyed.  It  could  not  long 
grapple  for  the  mastery  with  an  uncreated  arm  ;  it  kindled 
fiercely  on  his  humanity,  and  wasted  it ;  it  burned  towards 
his  divinity,  and  expired.  Death  simply  considered,  is  not 
necessarily  the  penalty  of  the  law,  as  the  death  of  plants 
and  animals.  The  penal  nature  of  the  infliction  is  to  be  de- 
termined from  the  grounds  and  reasons  of  it ;  not  wholly 
from  its  "  form,  duration,  and  circumstances,"  but,  also,  and 
mainly,  from  the  judgment  and  design  of  the  court  in  pro- 
nouncing the  sentence,  and  the  actual  execution  of  the  culprit 
in  pursuance  of  that  judgment.  Christ  was  adjudged  to 
death  by  the  Father  for  our  sins.  "  He  hath  made  him  to 
be  sin  for  us."  2  Cor.  v.  21.  And  that  judgment  was  exe- 
cuted both  by  his  providence  and  by  his  agency.  "  It  pleased 
the  Lord  to  bruise  him."  ~ii  Thou  hast  put  him  to  grief." 
Isaiah  liii.  "  He  was  delivered  for  our  offences."  Rom. 
i\fc  25.  In  every  scriptural  explanation  of  the  death  of  Christ 
is  invariably  included  the  punishment  of  sin. 

The  attempts  of  the  New  School  in  any  other  way  to 
prove  that  Christ  did  not  suffer  penally,  arc  equally  a  failure. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  reason,  but  of  revelation,  and  above 
the  reach  of  mere  reason.  The  moment  they  leave  the  Bible, 
the  proofs  which  would  be  required,  lie  beyond  the  vision 
of  men  and  of  angels.  "  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out 
God?     Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection? 


38        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

It  is  high  as  heaven;  what  canst  thou  do?  deep  as  hell; 
what  canst  thou  knowl"  There  is  "a  more  sure  word  of 
prophesy;  **  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place,"  to  which 
we  do  well  to  take  heed;  and  to  abandon  it,  is  not  to  multiply 
the  facilities  for  correct  and  satisfactory  investigation,  but  to 
be  left  "  alone,  at  midnight,  on  a  dark  and  moonless  sea." 
Who  can  show,  and  by  what  process  of  reasoning,  that  God 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  could  not  so  transfer  the  obligation 
to  suffer  the  penalty  of  the  law  for  the  sins  of  his  people  to 
Jesus  Christ,  as  to  make  those  sufferings  really  penal,  in  the 
judgment  of  Him  whose  judgment  is  according  to  truth  ? 
What  though  we  grant,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  all 
analogy  fails  us  here  1  The  same  is  true  of  the  incarnation. 
And  it  is  not  a  question  of  analogy,  but  of  revelation,  in  a 
matter  with  which  analogy  can  have  but  little  to  do,  when  we 
have  once  forsaken  the  Scriptures  and  their  analogies.  We 
are,  in  that  event,  borne  by  it  beyond  where  "eye  can  seeN 
or  glass  can  reach,"  to  scan  the  ways  of  Him,  "  whose  ways 
are  not  as  our  ways,  and  whose  thoughts  are  not  as  our 
thoughts,"  whose  purposes  are  hid  from  us  in  the  midnight 
of  eternity,  where  roll  the  clouds  of  an  appalling  darkness,  and 
where  mysterious  thunders  utter  their  voices.  How,  then, 
can  we,  having  left  the  Bible  testimony — to  examine  in  the 
abstract  what  it  is  possible  for  God  to  do — how  can  we, 
how  dare  any  mortal  say,  that  "If  Christ  were  properly 
guilty  by  imputation,  he  deserved  to  die ;  and  [that]  his 
death  could  have  no  more  merit  than  that  of  any  otbfcr 
guilty  being  f 

These  objections  of  the  New  School,  against  the  penal 
nature  of  Christ's  sufferings,  are  not  scriptural,  but  philo- 
sophical. And  the  philosophy  is  obviously  false,  because 
it  assumes  what  cannot  be  proved,  and  because  it  flatly 
contradicts  the  analogical  and  the  direct  testimony  of  the 
word  of  God.  The  innocent  invariably  suffered  in  the  place 
of  the  guilty  under  the  law  of  Moses ;  the  whole  proceed- 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  39 

ing  was  upon  legal  principles ;  and  it  is  abundantly  and 
directly  affirmed,  that  Christ  suffered  on  legal  principles. 
The  Son  had  power  over  his  own  life,  and  for  the  all-suffi- 
cient reason  which  the  Scriptures  assign  :  He  was  God. 
As  such,  he  was  not  subject,  necessarily,  to  those  rules  in 
the  regulation  of  his  conduct,  which  must  bind  and  govern 
the  creature.  As  a  condition  of  nature  would  exempt  angels 
from  the  obligations  which  govern  us  in  our  domestic  rela- 
tions, so  the  Son  of  God  is  exempted,  by  his  infinite  deity,  in 
disposing  of  his  own  life,  from  the  obligations  imposed  upon 
all  others.  I  understand  our  Lord  to  convey  this  idea,  when 
he  says:  "  No  man  taketh  my  life  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down 
of  myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power 
to  take  it  again/'  John  x.  18.  He  frequently  asserts  his 
absolute  power  and  unbounded  mastery  over  life  and  death. 
k'I  am  the  first  and  the  last ;  I  am  he  that  liveth  and  was 
dead ;  and  behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  Amen ;  and  have 
the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death."     Rev.  i.  17,  18. 

What  is  true  of  the  Son,  is  equally  true  of  the  Father ; 
and  for  the  same  reasons  :  He  is  God.  This  is  the  ultimate 
ground  of  all  obligation ;  the  ultimate  reason  given  by  him 
for,  all  his  commandments,  and  for  all  his  wonderful  and 
mysterious  dispensations.  It  is  appended  to  all  the  cove- 
nants, and  throughout  the  old  and  new  Testaments,  is  the 
high  and  ultimate  warrant  for  every  rite  and  every  institution. 
God  said  unto  Moses,  say  unto  the  Children  of  Israel,  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  If  his  commission  was  challenged,  he  was 
to  prove  its  divinity  by  miracles ;  but  still  to  insist  on  this 
one  ultimate  ground  of  obligation,  submission  and  obedience  : 
u  Thus  saith  the  Lord."  God,  then,  as  the  Governor  of  the 
Universe,  could  do  what  no  human  government  could, 
because  he  had  in  reserve  vast  and  incomprehensibly  great 
and  glorious  prerogatives ;  prerogatives  which  he  would 
never  give  to  another,  and  in  the  exercise  of  which  he 
accepted  the  obedience  and  death  of  his  Son,  voluntarily 


40  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

offered,  and  inflicted  upon  him  the  punishment  due  to  the 
sins  of  his  people.  It  is,  therefore,  because  he  is  God,  and 
not  man,  that  we  are  not  consumed.  This  is  not  only  true 
with  respect  to  his  compassion,  but  also  with  respect  to  those 
inexhaustible  resources  in  his  own  blessed  nature,  for  its 
constant  and  sufficient  development  and  exercise.  He  is 
God ;  God  in  three  persons  ;  God  above  all  law ;  and,  there- 
fore, able  to  obey  it ;  to  satisfy  its  claims  ;  to  inflict  its  curse  ; 
to  deliver  from  it;  and  to  shed  unbounded  glory  on  the 
institution  of  his  justice,  while  he  justifies  the  trembling 
believer  in  Jesus. 

The  right  which  a  man  might  have  to  give  up  his  own 
life,  in  the  place  of  that  of  his  friend,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
civil  law;  and  the  right  which  any  earthly  tribunal  might 
have  to  accept  the  substitution,  are  both  highly  questionable  ; 
because  neither  of  the  parties  have  any  authority,  other  than 
that  which  is  derivative.  That  the  proceeding  might  be 
made  perfectly  clear  and  satisfactory,  they  would  be  required 
to  show  that  they  possessed  an  original  and  underived  right 
to-  act  in  the  premises,  or,  at  least,  a  warrant  from  God,  the 
original  fountain  of  all  law  and  justice.  And  as  men, 
respected  as  individuals,  or  as  associated  under  conventional 
laws,  do  not  possess  the  one,  and  cannot  produce  the  other, 
so  the  right,  by  consent  of  parties,  to  substitute  the  innocent 
for  the  guilty,  in  the  inflictions  of  criminal  justice,  docs 
not  appear  obvious.  But,  this  cannot  be  true  of  the  high 
contracting  parties  in  the  sacrifice  of  atonement.  Both 
possessed  a  right,  which  was  original  and  underived.  The 
infinite  God  is  not  to  be  circumscribed  and  chained  within 
narrow  limits,  as  though  he  were  a  creature  of  yesterday. 
Human  laws,  and  the  right  to  administer  them,  are  grants, 
adequate  to  the  necessities  of  our  present  state,  and  limited 
by  the  divine  will;  but  the  source  of  all  justice  is  infinitely 
free,  and  He  hath  done  whatever  pleased  Him,  and  gives  us 
the  highest  possible  reasons  for  his  conduct,  when  he  assures 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  41 

us,  that  it  "  seemed  good  in  his  sight."  As  time  is  a  point 
thrown  from  the  cycles  of  eternity,  to  be  speedily  absorbed 
and  lost  in  its  source,  so  human  governments  are  appointed 
to  answer  their  temporary  end,  and  pass  away,  or  be  lost 
in  their  source,  that  "God  may  be  all  in  all*"  Christ,  then, 
we  maintain,  was  made  a  curse  for  us,  and  it  was  possible 
for  God  to  do  what  he  in  fact  did,  when  he  inflicted  upon 
him  the  punishment  of  our  peace.  Christ  was  the  master 
of  life,  and  had  an  original  and  underrved  power  over  his 
own  life,  in  a  sense  in  which  it  could  not  be  true  of  any 
created  intelligence.  He  had  a  right  to  lay  it  down  in 
blood,  for  the  sins  of  his  people,  to  the  justice  of  the  Father, 
and  to  resume  it  again  at  his  pleasure.  This  right  he  also 
exercised,  when  he  "made  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin." 

The  crucifixion  of  the  Son  of  God  is  seen  and  felt  by  all, 
to  have  been  an  event  unparalleled  in  the  records  of  martyr- 
dom. And  when  its  penal  nature  has  been  denied,  the 
demand  for  some  other  plausible  explanation  has  been  felt 
to  be  imperious.  Hence  writers  of  this  class  have  dwelt 
largely  on  its  moral  influence.  "  He  stood  (says  Mr.  Barnes) 
in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  the  sun  grew  dark,  and  the 
dead  arose,  and  angels  gazed  upon  the  scene,  and  from  his 
cross  an  impression  went  abroad  to  the  fartherest  part  of  the 
universe."  Notes  Gal.  ii.  16.  "We  may  very  naturally 
suppose  that  it  was  the  design,  or  purpose  of  God,  in  saving 
sinners,  to  make  a  deep  aud  grand  impression  on  the  uni- 
verse." See  Beman  on  Atonement,  p.  42.  The  Unitarians 
seek  relief  for  their  system  in  the  same  way.  "  The  cross 
(says  Dr.  Dewey)  sets  a  darker  stamp  upon  the  malignity 
of  sin,  than  the  table  of  the  commandments ;  and  it  demands 
of  us,  in  accents  louder  than  Sinai's  thunder,  sympathetic 
agonies  to  be  freed  from  sin."  Controversial  Discourses,  p. 
82.  The  moral  influence  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  on  the 
whole  intelligent  universe,  we  believe  to  be  inconceivably 
great  and  glorious,  because  they  are  seen  and  felt  to  be  the 


42        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

righteous  inflictions  of  legal  justice.  The  angels,  who  kept 
not  their  first  estate,  are  "set  forth  for  an  example,  suffering 
the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire."  Jude,  vi.  7.  The  suffer- 
ing is  not  just,  because  it  is  impressive,  but  impressive, 
because  it  is  just.  And  if  Christ's  sufferings,  were  not 
merited  by  the  sins  of  his  people,  which  were  set  to  his 
account;  if  he  did  not  suffer,  "the  just  for  the  unjust;  (1st 
Peter,  hi.  18.;)  if  he  was  not  "bruised  for  our  iniquities," 
(Isa.  lv.  5.,)  then  there  could  arise  out  of  them  no  desirable 
moral  influence  whatever.  If  God  did  not  "  make  him  to  be 
sin  for  us,"  (2d  Cor.  v.  21.,)  how  could  his  sufferings  impress 
us  with  the  evil  of  sin  1  For  "  who  ever  perished,  being 
innocent]"  Job,  iv.  7.  And  what  good  could  come  of  it, 
if  any  ever  had ;  if  such  foul  wrong  had  ever  been  perpe- 
trated by  the  ever  blessed  God]  Could  it  "please  the  Lord 
to  bruise  him,  and  put  his  soul  to  grief,"  to  administer  the 
cup  of  trembling  in  the  garden,  to  smite  the  Shepherd,  and 
forsake  him  on  the  cross?  when  justice  had  no  claims  to 
vindicate,  the  law  no  demands  to  satisfy  1  And  could  the 
holy  universe  behold  the  fearful  spectacle,  without  a  thrill 
of  horror  and  despair  1 

This  attempted  explanation  is  no  explanation.  It  encum- 
bers the  system  with  additional  dfflculties,  and  leaves  its  ad- 
vocates to  grapple  with  an  objection  which  they  can  never 
remove.  The  restraining  moral  influence  of  the  death  of 
Christ  is  not  with  us  its  principle,  but  rather  we  would  say, 
its  incidental  end.  Christ  did  far  more  than  impress  the 
universe  with  the  evil  of  sin.  He  did  all  "  for  man"  or  in 
his  place,  that  needed  to  be  done  "  in  things  pertaining  to 
God,"  whose  justice,  was  the  great  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  salvation.  The  innocent  need  no  substitute  :  no  one  to 
represent  them.  Their  communications  with  God  are  always 
acceptable  and  direct.  "  I  am  Gabriel,  that  stand  in  the 
presence  of  God,"  he  stands  there,  without  a  mediator,  be- 
cause he  is  not  an  offender.     But  we  are  guilty;  are  his 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  43 

banished  ones,  and  can  no  longer  act  for  ourselves,  in  those 
high  and  holy  things  that  respect  the  justice  of  God.  Id  this 
great  work,  impossible  to  be  done  by  a  sinner  or  a  creature, 
the  Son  of  God  stands  alone,  in  solitary  greatness,  sharing 
his  sacerdotal  work  and  glory,  with  no  other.  All  the  sig- 
nificancies  of  the  priestly  office  were  in  the  high  priest.  He 
alone  represented  Christ,  and  went  alone  into  the  most  holy 
place  to  make  atonement  for  sin.  And  Christ  stood  alone, 
and  of  the  people  there  was  none  with  him.  He  went  alone 
into  the  mountain,  to  be  tempted,  "  to  distrust,  devil-worship, 
and  self-murder."  He  was  not  supported  in  his  agony  in  the 
garden,  by  his  disciples  :  they  could  not  watch  one  hour. 
He  stood  alone  in  Pilate's  judgment  hall,  abandoned  by  all, 
defended  by  none.  He  hung  alone  on  the  cross,  derided  by 
thieves,  and  forsaken  of  God.  He  descended  alone  into  the 
grave,  pursuing  the  last  enemy  and  vanquishing  him,  single 
handed,  in  his  last  and  gloomy  retreat.  And  if  he  has  left  any- 
thing undone,  that  needed  to  have  been  done,  that  unfinished 
work,  *can  be  finished  by  no  other.  If  he  has  not  done  «//, 
the  fate  of  his  church,  would  be  the  same  as  though  he  had 
done  nothing.  If  then,  among  all  the  great  things  he  has 
accomplished,  he  has  omitted  to  bear  the  penalty  of  the  law, 
if  it  never  has  been  inflicted  at  all  on  him,  its  infliction  must 
inevitably  fall  upon  his  ruined  people,  and  they  must  sink 
to  hell  for  "  God  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty."  Exodus 
xxxiv.  7.  "He  abideth  faithful;  he  cannot  deny  himself." 
2  Tim.  ii.  13.  But  he  has  not  omitted  to  bear  it,  neither  has 
the  Father  omitted  to  inflict  it.  for  "  It  pleased  the  Lord  to 
bruise  him."  "  Thou  hast  put  him  to  grief."  "  He  made  his 
soul  an  offering  for  sin."  On  these  passages  in  the  53d  of 
Isaiah,  Mr.  Barnes  has  bestowed  much  learned  labor,  to  no 
good  purpose.  They  mean  more,  than  that  Christ  was  deli- 
vered up  to  outward  providential  sufferings;  they  represent 
those  sufferings,  to  have  also  proceeded  from  the  Father  in 
direct  and  subjective  inflictions.   This,  it  is  true,  would  prove 


44        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

them  penal;  and  they  were  such.  This,  which  is  the  com- 
mon interpretation,  and  the  manifest  sense  of  the  words  of 
the  prophet,  receives  collateral  support  also,  from  the  narra- 
tive given  of  the  wonderful  event.  His  courage  and  fortitude, 
his  personal  purity  and  peace  of  conscience,  and  every  other 
element  of  greatness  and  glory,  that  ever  entered  into  the  na- 
ture or  adorned  the  character  of  man,  stood  pre-eminent  in 
him,  and  placed  him  above  all  others.  But  when  did  ever 
martyr,  spend  a  night  of  gloom  and  despair  and  bloody  agony, 
comparable  with  that,  in  which  Jesus  was  betrayed  1  Paul 
sang  at  midnight,  when  his  back  was  sore  with  stripes,  and 
his  feet  made  fast  in  the  stocks.  He  remained  unmoved  amid 
bonds  and  afflictions,  and  was  ready  to  be  offered  up,  and 
cheerful  in  the  immediate  prospect  of  a  violent  death.  But 
Christ  was  "  sore  amazed  and  being  in  agony,  sweat  as  it 
were  great  drops  of  blood  falling  down  to  the  ground."  It  was 
not  the  mere  dread  of  whips  and  thorns,  of  treason  and  cru- 
cifixion, that  could  have  had  power  to  baptize  in  blood,  one 
so  truly  great  and  good.  There  were  other  and  higher  causes 
in  operation,  and  to  these  he  repeatedly  refers.  When  the 
bitter  cup  was  pressed  to  his  fevered  lip,  it  wTas  seen  and  ac- 
knowledged by  him  to  have  been  administered  by  the  Fath- 
er's hand  ;  and  though  he  prayed  that  it  might  pass,  yet  he 
submitted  to  him  who  would  not  suffer  it  to  pass;  for  the  cup 
which  his  heavenly  father  gave  him  to  drink,  should  he  not 
drink  it  1  There  are  no  out  cries,  when  he  is  scourged,  and 
crowned  with  thorns,  and  nailed  to  the  cross  ;  during  this 
entire  period  of  intense  bodily  pain,  "he  opened  not  his 
mouth."  But  when  at  length,  it  pleased  the  Lord  again  to 
bruise  him  ;  when  God  himself  drew  the  sword,  and  again 
directly  smote  the  shepherd;  then  a  loud  and  plaintive  voice, 
wails  out  mournfully  from  the  cross:  "Why  hast  thou  for- 
saken me  ?"  Mat.  xxvii.  40.  It  is  an  expostulation  not  with 
man  but  with  God,  and  directs  our  attention  to  the  source  of 
his  woe,  and  helps  to  finish  and  explain,  the  mournful  tragedy 


SUFFERINGS    OF    CHRIST.  45 

recorded  by  the  prophet  Isaiah.  May  this  bitter  curse  never 
fall  on  us,  for  who  can  abide  it  ?  Who  can  dwell  in  devouring 
tire.  Who  can  dwell  with  everlasting  burnings?  Isa.  xxxiii.  14. 
Inflicted  on  Christ,  it  could  not  last ;  it  approached  his  divin- 
ity, and  perished  from  the  way.  Inflicted  on  creatures,  it 
must  last  forever  ;  empty  upon  their  devoted  heads  the  vials 
of  its  wrath:  a  wretchedness,  concentrated  and  interminable. 
0 !  how  gloomy  and  hopeless  that  prison,  in  which  it  con- 
fines the  final  enemies  of  God.  The  walls  are  never  scaled, 
the  bolts  are  never  drawn,  the  horrors  never  end.  Who 
then  can  abide  it  ]  Fall  somewhere,  it  must ;  if  you  neglect 
Christ  and  die  in  your  sins;  it  will  claim  you  for  its  prey, 
drink  up  your  spirits,  soak  like  oil  into  your  bones,  and  fill  you 
with  an  intense  misery,  like  to  that  which  sore  amazed  the 
son  of  God,  and  pressed  him  to  the  ground,  and  moistened 
the  weeping  turf  wTith  his  blood.  It  exhausted  itself  on  him: 
He  was  divine.  It  never  will  on  the  lost:  They  are  crea- 
tures. "  Their  worm  dieth  not,  their  fire  is  not  quenched.*" 
Mark  ix.  44.  Are  you  yet  in  your  sins  1  escape  to  him  at 
once,  for  how  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  sal- 
vation. As  a  Saviour,  he  stands  alone,  and  of  the  people 
there  are  none  with  him  ;  there  is  no  other  eye  to  pity,  no 
other  arm  to  save.  Neglect  him,  and  whatever  else  you 
may  do,  to  whomsoever  else  you  may  go,  you  cannot  es- 
cape ;  you  must  bear  the  curse  yourself.  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  regard  him  as  a  good  man,  as  a  suffering  martyr,  nor  even 
as  divine.  If  his  sufferings  were  but  an  expedient,  or  any 
thing  else  whatever  you  may  be  pleased  to  make  them,  and 
yet  not  the  curse  of  the  law,  you  err  on  the  main  point:  and 
as  his  satisfaction  can  benefit  you  only  as  it  is  accepted,  it 
cannot  benefit  you  in  respect  of  the  curse,  for  that  you  be- 
lieve was  not  endured  by  him.  He  cannot  then  save  you  from 
it,  and  how  can  you  escape  ?  Your  error  here  is  most  fatal. 
If  you  believe  that  God  can  safely  and  with  honor  give  up  the 
curse,  since  Christ  has  suffered,  though  he  did  not  suffer  it, 


46        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

yet  that  faith  cannot  save  you  :  God  is  true  and  just  and 
"  cannot  deny  himself."  2.  Timothy  ii.  13.  He  will  inflict 
the  curse.  And  if  the  Saviour  has  not  borne,  he  cannot 
bring  you  out  from  under  it.  It  must  in  that  event  abide  on 
you  forever.  And  can  you  abide  it  1  O !  turn  not  away 
from  him  who  hung  upon  the  tree,  with  this  ruinous  evasion 
of  his  proffered  grace.  "  He  that  believe th  on  the  Son  hath 
everlasting  life,  but  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not 
see  life  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  John  iii.  36. 
Or  can  you  have  a  heart  thus  to  slight  the  grace  of  Him,  who 
in  his  infinite  pity,  took  your  place  under  the  broken  cove- 
nant. An  interest  in  this  wonderful  event  is  felt  every  where 
else.  Hell  is  moved  from  beneath  and,  devils  cry,  "  we  know 
thee,  who  thou  art ;"'  angels  bow  from  their  bright  princi- 
palities, in  the  heavenly  places  and  "  desire  to  look  into  the 
mysteries  of  his  love  ;"  the  vail  of  the  temple  is  rent  in 
twain  from  top  to  bottom  ;  the  earth  quakes  ;  the  dead 
arise;  the  rocks  cry  out;  and  can  you,  you  who  are  most  of 
all  concerned — can  you  remain  unmoved  amid  the  awakened 
sympathies  of  surrounding  worlds  ?  Oh  !  what  is  this  which 
has  thus  availed  "  to  harden  all  within?'  Is  not  such  depra- 
vity total  ?  Shall  the  scene  on  calvary  affect  the  universe 
and  break  the  very  heart  of  marble,  and  wilt  thou  shed  no 
tear,  nor  treat  even  with  common  decency  the  overtures  of 
grace  1 

"I  asked  the  heavens, — "What  foe  to  God  hath  donei 

This  unexampled  deed  ? — The  heavens  exclaim, 

"  'Twas  man  !  and  we  in  horror,  snatch'd  the  sun 

From  such  a  spectacle  of  guilt  and  shame." 
I  asked  the  sea  ; — the  sea  in  fury  bojl'd, 

And  answcrd  with  his  voice  of  storms,  'twas  man  ! 
My  waves  in  panic*  at  his  crime  recoil 'd, 

Disclosed  th'  abyss,  and  from  the  centre  ran. 
I  ask'd  the.  earth  ; — the  earth  replied  aghast, 

"  'Twas  man  ! — and  such  strange  pangs  my  bosom  rent, 
That  still  1  groan  and  shudder  at  the  past." 

— To  man,  gay,  smiling-,  thoughtless  man,  I  wen 6, 
And  asked  him  next  : — He  turn 'd  a  scornful  eve, 
Shook  his  proud  head,  and  deigned  me-  no  reply." 


CHAPTER  III. 


DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 


Imputation — What  intended  by  it — Denied  by  the  New  School — The  doc- 
trine defended — New  School  views  of  faith  exposed  and  refuted. 


The  doctrine  of  Imputation,  is  distinctly  taught  in  the  word 
of  God.  "  To  him  that  worketh  not,  but  believeth  on  him 
that  justifieth  the  ungodly,  his  faith  is  counted  to  him,  for 
righteousness :  even  as  David,  also,  describeth  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  man,  unto  whom  God  imputeth  righteousness, 
without  works."  Romans  iv.  5,  6.  In  this  passage  God  is 
said  to  account  a  man  legally  just,  who  is  not  so  in  fact. — 
He  justifieth  the  ungodly.  The  term,  justifieth,  is  forensic. 
It  relates  to  the  judgment  of  a  court,  in  the  case  of  an  accu- 
sed person,  who  is  pronounced  just  according  to  the  law. 
But  in  this  instance  the  person  justified,  is  confessedly  un- 
godly, he  is  counted  to  be  in  law,  what  he  is  not  in  fact,  and 
this  by  imputation.  God  imputes  to  him  righteousness  with- 
out works.  This  righteousness  is  a  reality.  He  does  not 
impute  to  him  what  does  not  exist.  And  if  it  does  not  exist 
in  the  person  justified,  it  must  exist  somewhere  else.  To 
impute  a  nonentity  is  both  absurd  and  impossible.  This 
righteousness  was  wrought  out  by  the  obedience  of  Jesus 
Christ  "  By  the  obedience  of  one,  shall  many  be  made 
righteous."  Romans  v.  19.  The  son  "was  made  under 
the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law."  Gda- 
tians  iv.  4,  5.  "He  became  obedient  unto  death."  Phil.  iL  8.. 


48  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

••  Fulfilled  all  righteousness/'  Mat.  iii.  15.  "  And  is  the  end 
of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth." 
Romans  x.  4.  This  righteousness  is  called  the  righteousness 
of  God.  ki  Therein  (in  the  gospel)  is  the  righteousness  of  God 
revealed,"  Romans  i.  17 — not  his  "  method,  or  plan,"  as  Mr. 
Barnes  will  have  it,  but  his  righteousness.  It  is  called  the 
righteousness  of  God,  because  wrought  out  by  God  the  Son, 
brought-  savingly  to  the  knowledge  of  the  believer  by  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  provided  and  imputed  by  God  the  Father. 
In  Romans  v.  13,  14.  sin  is  declared  to  have  been  in  the 
world,  from  Adam  to  Moses,  a  period  of  twenty Sve  hun- 
dred years,  and  death  is  represented  to  have  reigned,  even 
over  those  who  had  not  sinned  after  the  similtude  of  Adams 
transgression.  He  reared  his  gloomv  throne  and  reigned, 
in  that  remote  antiquity  amid  the  habitations  of  men,  and 
strewed  the  earth  with  bones.  His  war  was  on  the  race, 
remorseless  and  exterminating;  nor  age,  nor  sex,  escaped. 
Even  the  helplessness  of  unoffending  infancy,  was  no  protec- 
tion ;  and  as  they  had  not  sinned  actually,  violated  no  lawT 
known  to  them  ;  and,  as  sin  is  not  imputed  where  there  is  no 
lawr,  wThy  were  they  treated  as  sinners,  and  subjected  to  the 
dreadful  penalty  of  death  1  It  was  by  imputation.  It  was 
by  the  offence  of  one.  That  offence  was  adjudged  to  be  the 
offence  of  the  race,  and  by  it  they  were  all,  accounted  guilty. 
Thus  in  entailed  estates,  the  heirs  at  law,  wrere  all  from  gen- 
eration to  generation,  disinherited  by  the  rebellion  of  the 
original  colonist  against  the  crown.  It  was  his  act  at  the 
time  when  he  committed  the  offence,  which  forfieited  the 
estate  to  his  unborn  descendants,  because  he  wras  their  legal 
representative.  By  this  one  man's  offence,  many  wrere  made 
poor  and  they  rebelled  in  him,  and  fell  with  him  from  the 
favor  of  the  king,  not  by  their  own  subsequent  acts  of  rebel- 
lion, but  by  that  of  a  distant  progenitor.  And  in  like  manner 
"  the  covenant  being  made  with  Adam,  as  a  public  person, 
not  for  himself  only,  but  also  for  his  posterity,  all  mankind 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  49 

descending  from  him  by  ordinary  generation,  sinned  in  him, 
and  fell  with  him,  in  his  first  transgression."  Shorter  Cate- 
chism, Question  10th.  "In  Adam  all  die  ;"  (1  Corinthians 
xv.  22  ;)  die  by  virtue  of  a  federative,  as  well  as  by  a  natu- 
ral relation,  even  also  as  Levi,  long  before  he  was  born,  paid 
tithes  in  Abraham,  and  compromised  the  integrity  of  his 
claim  to  supremacy  in  the  priesthood,  by  an  act  of  his  illus- 
trious ancestor  five  hundred  years  before  Aaron  was  called 
and  consecrated,  "  for  he  was  yet  in  the  loins  of  his  father, 
Abraham,  when  Melchisedec  met  him."  Hebrews  vii.  10. 

This  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin,  illustrates 
the  parallel  doctrine  of  the  imputation  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness. "  For  as  by  one  man's  disobedience,  many  were 
made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made 
righteous."     Romans  v.  19. 

As  Adam  was  a  public  person,  so  Christ  was  a  public 
person.  As  Adam  acted  for  others,  so  Christ  acted'  for 
others.  As  Adam's  disobedience  was  imputed  to  others,  who 
had  not  been  personally  disobedient,  so  Christ's  obedience, 
is  imputed  to  those  who  have  not  personally  obeyed.  And  as 
the  offence  of  one,  adjudged  the  "  many"  to  death,  so  the 
obedience  of  one,  adjudged  the  "many"  to  life.  The  truth, 
wisdom  and  equity  of  that  court,  from  whence  this  judg- 
ment proceeds,  cannot  be  questioned.  "It  is  God  that  justi- 
fieth."  Romans  viii.  33.  We  believe  then  that  "justification, 
is  an  act  of  God's  free  grace,  wherein  he  pardoneth  all  our 
sins,  and  accepteth  us  as  righteous  in  his  sight,  only,  for  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  imputed  to  us,  and  received  by  faith 
alone."     See  Shorter  Catechism,  Answer  33. 

This  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  and  of  our  standards,  has  no 
place  in  the  new  divinity.  Among  its  opponents,  Mr.  Barnes 
holds  a  conspicuous  place,  as  a  standard  authority,  and  by 
his  Notes,  in  permanent  and  portable  manuals,  widely  en- 
dorsed and  circulated  among  the  New  School,  he  is  rapidly 
forming  the  opinions  and  characters  of  the  rising  generation. 

4 


50  OLD   AND   NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

He  is  far  more  guarded  and  prudent  in  expressing  himself  on 
this  point  than  some  who  are  reported  to  have  said  "  imputed 
righteousness,  is  imputed  nonsense."  His  high  sense  of 
propriety,  and  his  strong  desire  to  render  his  works  acceptable 
to  all,  has  led  him  to  convey  the  same  thought  in  less  offen- 
sive terms.  His  own  language  on  this  subject  is,  "  A  few 
(expressions)  that  have  given  offence,  have  been  changed, 
because  without  abandoning  any  principle  of  doctrine  or 
interpretation,  I  could  convey  my  ideas  in  language  more 
acceptable,  and  less  fitted  to  produce  offence  *  *  *  with  a 
desire  to  do  all  that  can  be  done  without  abandoning  princi- 
ple, to  promote  peace  and  to  silence  the  voice  of  alarm." 
(Notes  on  Romans,  9th  edition,  note  to  first  preface.)  This 
is  amiable,  but  it  does  not  prove  that  because  the  gentleman 
has  changed  his  manner  that  he  has  therefore  changed  his 
sentiments,  or  that  even  he  regards  imputed  righteousness  as 
any  other  than  imputed  nonsense.  A  few  quotations,  will 
show  that  the  latter  impression  is  incorrect.  "  It  is  not  that 
his  righteousness  became  ours.  This  is  not  true,  and  there 
is  no  intelligible  sense  in  which  that  can  be  understood." — 
Notes,  Romans  i.  17.  Here  the  denial  is  less  abrupt,  less 
fitted  to  produce  offence,  than  it  might  have  been,  but  it  is 
equivalent  to  the  very  worst  form  in  which  it  has  ever 
been  made.  Of  our  view,  he  says,  "it  is  not  true,"  and  in 
the  place  of  the  word  "  nonsense"  he  uses  the  sentence 
"  there  is  no  intelligible  sense  in  which  that  can  be  under- 
stood." That  is  (if  bluntly  said)  there  is  no  sense  in  that 
statement  ;  it  is  nonsense.  Again,  "  to  sin  by  imputation  is 
unintelligible  and  conveys  no  idea."  Notes,  Rom.  xiii,  14. 
Here  he  docs  not  say  it  is  "  nonsense"  but  that  the  statement 
conveys  no  idea,  i.  e.  it  is  void  of  sense,  it  is  nonsense.  Those 
therefore  who  claim  that  he  has  changed  or  even  modified 
his  views,  or  that  he  differs  from  the  very  worst  enemies  of 
imputation,  do  him  injustice.  The  difference  is  not  in  his 
views,  but  in  his  style  and  manner. 


DIFFERExNCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  51 

All  the  quotations  which  I  make  from  Mr.  Barnes,  are 
from  the  latest  editions  of  his  notes,  and  in  these  his  language 
is  sufficiently  strong  and  explicit,  to  be  readily  understood.  In 
the  following  statement,  he  defines  his  position,  with  an  exact- 
ness which  defies  misapprehension.  "  If  he  (Christ)  was  in 
any  proper  sense  guilty  then  he  deserved  to  die  and  his  death 
could  have  no  more  merit  than  that  of  any  other  guilty  being, 
and  if  he  was  properly  guilty,  it  would  make  no  difference 
in  this  respect  whether  it  was  by  his  own  fault,  or  by  impu- 
tation." All  other  passages  relating  to  imputation,  are  ex- 
plained by  him,  in  perfect  accordance  with  these  views. — 
When  it  is  affirmed  that  "  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that 
it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God  sending  his  own  Son  in 
the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin  condemned  sin  in 
the  flesh ;  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  might  be  fulfilled 
in  us."  Rom.  viii.  3.  We  understand  the  apostle  to  say, 
that  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.  in  our  nature  by  the  Son  of 
God  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  in  us  ;  and  that  "  there  is  there- 
fore now  no  condemnation  to  them  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus." 
That  "he  who  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty,"  (Exodus, 
xxxiv.  7,)  does  not  respect  us  as  guilty.  "He  beholdeth 
no  iniquity  in  Jacob,  and  no  perverseness  in  Israel."  Num. 
xxiii.  21.  Yet  Mr.  Barnes,  makes  the  fulfilling  of  the  law's 
righteousness,  to  be  our  obedience  to  its  precepts.  The  ex- 
pression, "  fulfilled  in  us,"  signifies  according  to  him,  "  that 
we  might  be  obedient,  or  comply  with  its  demands." 

The  following  statement  is  equally  singular:  "God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  to  re- 
deem them  that  were  under  the  law."  "  Made  under  the 
law"  as  one  of  the  human  race,  partaking  of  human  nature,  he 
was  subject  to  the  law  of  God.  As  a  man  he  was  bound  by 
its  requirements,  and  subject  to  its  control."  Gal.  iv.  3,  4.  He 
however,  who  was  sent  forth  was  the  Son  of  God,  his  son 
prior  to  his  incarnation,  and  equally  his  son  after  that  event. 
His  human  nature  never  was  a  person  ;  never  had  a  personal 


52        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

existence,  separate  from  his  divine.     His  two  natures  were 
from  the  first  instance  of  susception,  "  indissolubly  joined 
together  in  one  person."     As  a  man,  then,  simply  considered, 
in  his  legal  relations,  and  personal  responsibilities,  he  never 
existed ;  but  only  as  the  Son,  uniting  the  human  and  divine 
natures  in  one  person  forever.     His  subjection  to  the  law, 
was  voluntary,  not  necessary,  not  the  inseparable  condition 
of  his  humanity  :  he  was  not  under  the  law,  but  was  made 
under  the  law.     Nor  was  he  made  under  the  law,  because 
he  was  made  of  a  woman,  but  to  redeem  them  that  were 
under  the  law."     To  the  law  he  owed  no  obedience  on  his 
own  account.     It  was  made  for  creatures;  they  were  neces- 
sarily bound  by  its  requirements  and  subject  to  its  control. 
But  the  Son  was  not  a  creature.     He  was  the  Creator  of  the 
ends  of  the  earth.     He  was  made  under  the  law,  to  render 
an  obedience,  that  he  did  not  owe  as  a  natural  obligation  : 
an  obedience  which  the  law  (made  for  the  finite)  could  not 
demand  from  the  infinite-;  that  he  might  restore  that  which 
he  took  not  away,  work  out  a  righteousness  ;  a  righteous- 
ness, which  was  not  an  essential  quality,  but  a  public  treasure, 
not  essential  to  the  son,  respected  simply  as  the  son,  but 
external  to  him,  or  mediatorial,  and  therefore,  capable  of 
imputation.     Had  he  owed  obedience  to  the  law,  as  a  man, 
his  obedience  would  have  been  no  more  than  the  measure 
of  his  duty,   as  its  natural  subject,  and  imputation  would 
have  been  an  impossibility.     But  his  obedience  did  not  alter 
his  moral  character  ;   he  was  in  this  respect,  as  righteous 
before  that  obedience  was  rendered  by  him,  as  afterward, 
"  the  same,  yesterday,  to  day,  and  forever."  Heb.  xiii.  8. 
It  was  not  required,  by  the  necessities  of  his  nature,  but  by 
the  necessities  of  his  people,  and  was  wrought  out  purely 
for  their  benefit.     If  the  Son  had  ceased  to  be  God,  when 
he  became  man,  then  his  being  made  under  the  law,  would 
have  been  the  necessarv  condition  of  his  incarnation  ;   he 
would  have   been  placed  there,  not  by  choice,  but  by  a 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  53 

necessity  of  nature.  But  the  Scriptures  represent  it  to  have 
been  not  an  act  of  duty,  but  of  voluntary  humiliation. — 
"  Being  in  the  form  of  God  he  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God  ;  yet  made  himself  of  no  reputation  and  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness 
of  men,  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled 
himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of 
the  cross."  Phil.  ii.  6,  8.  Here,  his  whole  obedience,  active 
and  passive,  is  included  in  the  sum  of  his  voluntary  humili- 
ation. If  this  obedience  was  demanded  by  a  law  of  his  nature, 
it  was  his  duty  to  render  it,  and  his  rendering  it  could  not  be 
plead  in  evidence  of  his  most  wonderful  condescension.  What 
he  owed  and  paid  on  his  own  account,  proved  him  a  dutiful 
subject,  but  not  a  condescending  benefactor.  The  Son 
moreover  could  not  have  been  bound  by  the  law,  respected 
as  the  son,  otherwise  he  could  not  have  been  "  made  under 
it,"  for  on  this  supposition,  he  was  already  under  it.  If  then 
he  remained  divine,  when  he  became  human,  his  whole 
obedience  was  a  gratuity, — a  condescension, — a  humiliation. 
The  law  had  claims,  claims  which  were  infinite,  claims  which 
none  could  satisfy  in  the  circumstances  in  which  man  was 
placed  except  God  himself ;  but  they  were  upon  his  ruined 
people,  not  naturally  upon  the  Son,  and  he  therefore  took 
their  place  under  the  violated  covenant,  "  to  restore  that 
which  he  took  not  away."  Ps.  lxix.  4.  Moreover  the  obedience 
of  death,  was  confessedly  not  that  which  he  could  owe  on 
his  own  account ;  that  obedience  the  law  could  not  demand 
of  the  innocent,  but  only  of  the  guilty,  and  as  he  had  no  sin 
in  himself,  he  deserved  not  to  die  ;  this  act  of  obedience  the 
law  could  not  require  of  him  ;  in  offering  it,  he  was  not  subject 
to  its  control ;  he  had  perfect  power  over  his  own  life;  over 
it  the  law  had  no  legitimate  power  but  by  his  own  consent; 
his  obedience  therefore,  was  not  necessary  but  voluntary, 
an  instance  of  infinite  condescension,  and  strictly  vicarious. 
Those  beasts  whose  daily  sacrifice  bathed  the  sides   of 


54        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

Mount  Zion  with  the  unceasing  waste  of  life,  were  neither 
the  transgressors  of  the  law,  nor  its  natural  subjects.  And 
in  this  as  truly  as  in  other  respects,  they  were  the  shadows 
of  the  heavenly  Lamb,  who  was  neither  a  sinner,  nor  a 
natural  subject.  They  were  sacrificed  by  the  law  of  a 
typical  imputation ;  He  by  the  law  of  a  real  one.  Their 
innocence  was  no  obedience  ;  their  death  no  satisfaction. 
"  Wherefore,  when  he  cometh  into  the  world,  he  saith  sac- 
rifice and  offering  thou  wouldest  not,  but  a  body  hast  thou 
prepared  me.  In  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices  for  sin  thou 
hast  had  no  pleasure.  Then  said  I,  lo  I  come  in  the  volume 
of  thy  book  it  is  written  of  me  to  do  thy  will  O  God.  (I  come 
of  my  own  free  will,  to  offer  that  obedieifte,  in  the  place  of  my 
people,  which  will  take  away  every  defect  in  them.)  By  the 
which  will,  we  are  sanctified,  through  the  offering  of  the  body 
of  Jesus  Christ,  once  for  all."  Heb.  x.  5,  10. 

Imputation,  is  not  to  me  an  unintelligible  idea  ;  not  a  meta- 
physical subtilty  of  the  schools  ;  not  the  ever  erring  philoso- 
phy of  man  concerning  unrevealed  mysteries,  in  providence 
and  redemption.  It  is  as  intelligible  to  me,  as  the  assump- 
tion of  the  debt  of  Onesimus  by  Paul ;  I  have  but  to  change 
the  actors  and  the  law;  Christ  assumes  and  pays  the  debt  of 
love  and  obedience  I  owe  to  God  and  his  law,  and  bears  the 
penalty  due  to  my  offences.  God  accepts  the  substitute  and 
sets  his  righteousness  to  my  account.  This  is  not  unintelli- 
gible. It  is  plain  to  me,'  and  plain  to  all,  even  to  those  most 
"unlettered  in  all  that  proceeds  from  halls  and  colleges." 
It  is  to  me  and  is  to  every  believer  a  fact,  not  "  the  mere 
philosophy  of  a  fact ;  of  a  fact  that  cannot  be  explained  and 
that  admits  of  no  explanation."  The  imputation  of  the  sin  of 
Adam,  and  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  are  facts  as  clearly 
revealed,  as  the  offence  of  the  one,  and  the  obedience  of  the 
other.  If  it  is  revealed  as  a  fact  that  Adam  offended,  so  it 
is  also  that  that  offence  belongs  to  the  race  in  the  judgment 
of  God.     "  The  judgment  was  by  one  unto  condemnation." 


+ 

DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  55 

Rom.  v,  16.  So  also,  if  it  is  a  revealed  fact,  that  Christ 
obeyed  the  law  at  all,  it  is  also,  that  that  obedience,  is  made 
in  the  judgement  of  God,  the  obedience  of  his  people.  "He 
is  made  of  God,  unto  us  righteousness."  1  Cor.  i.  30. 

Be  not  deceived  by  the  clamor,  raised  concerning  the 
imputation  of  Adam's  sin.  The  misrepresentations  with 
which  it  is  assailed,  should  not  divert  your  attention  from 
their  effects  upon  another  and  a  kindred  question,  viz:  Upon  t 
the  imputation  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  The  eye  that 
mocks  at  the  one,  mocks  at  the  other.  The  hand  that  rends 
and  scatters  the  first  covenant,  rends  and  scatters  the  second. 
While  it  affects  but  to  overturn  a  gloomy  dogma  of  the 
schools,  it  overturns  both  the  altar,  and  the  sacrifice  of  our 
High  Priest,  "  for  as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were 
made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made 
righteous."  Rom.  v.  19.  The  principles  are  analogous,  they 
stand  or  fall  together.  Hold  fast  then  the  "  form  of  sound 
words,"  and  consider  the  exceeding  riches  of  that  grace 
exhibited  by  them.  They  contain  no  doctrine  of  a  stinted 
and  impoverished  Redeemer,  who  owed  all  for  himself,  and 
could  give  nothing,  because  he  had  nothing  to  give.  "  For 
it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fullness  dwell." 
Col.  i.  19.  "  The  Lord  is  well  pleased  for  his  righteousness 
sake,  he  hath  magnified  the  law  and  made  it  honorable." — 
Isaiah  xlii.  21.  "  There  is  an  abundance  of  grace,  and  an 
abundance  of  righteousness."  Rom.  v.  17.  And  if  he  has 
enough  and  to  spare,  why  is  it  absurd  to  believe  that  it  is 
imputed  to  his  people;  that  out  of  his  own  ample  sacerdotal 
robe  is  made  that  "  clean  white  linen  which  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  saints  V*  Rev.  xix.  8.  The  sum  of  his  righteous- 
ness is  greater  than  that  of  all  creatures.  If  all  had  proved 
obedient,  and  for  ever  obedient,  in  heaven,  earth,  and  hell, 
the  whole,  gathered  together,  and  regarded  in  its  mightiest 
aggregate,  could  never  have  equaled  in  value,  and  glory 
and  fullness,  that  single  righteousness  wrought  out  by  the 


56        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

Son  of  God.  The  righteousness  of  creatures  however  great 
still  has  its  degrees,  but  that  of  the  eternal  Son  has  no  degrees 
it  is  and  must  be  infinite.  "  His  righteousness  [is]  as  the 
waves  of  the  sea."  Isaiah  xlviii.  18.  All  the  navies  of  the 
world  appear  like  specks  upon  the  bosom  of  the  sea.  So  the 
righteousnesses  of  all  creatures,  in  all  worlds,  are  but  dark 
spots  on  the  bosom  of  our  Lord's  righteousness.  His  righte- 
ousness, is  vast,  like  the  sea,  a  sea  whose  healing  and  re- 
freshing waters,  fill  immensity  and  eternity.  Let  us  there- 
fore "  count  all  things  but  loss,  that  we  may  win  Christ,  and 
be  found  in  him,  not  having  our  own  righteousness  which  is 
of  the  law,  but  that  which  is  through  the  faith  of  Christ  the" 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith."  Phil.  iii.  8,  9. 

Presbyterians,  believe  that  "it  is  not  the  grace  of  faith, 
nor  any  act  thereof,  which  is  imputed  to  us  for  our  justifica- 
tion;" (Larger  Catechism  Ans.  73,)  "  that  justification  is  an 
act  of  Gods  free  grace,  wherein  he  pardoneth  all  our  sins, 
and  accepteth  us  as  righteous  in  his  sight,  only  for  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ,  imputed  to  us,  and  received  by  faith  alone." 
(Short  Catechism,  Ans  33.)  But  Mr.  Barnes,  in  opposition 
to  this  affirms  that  the  act  itself,  is  imputed  to  us  for  right- 
eousness. On  Romans  iv.  3  :  "It  was  counted  unto  him  for 
righteousness,"  he  remarks,  "  It  here  evidently  refers  to  the 
act  of  believing.  It  does  not  refer  to  the  righteousness  of 
another,  of  God  or  of  the  Messiah.  Faith  is  always  an  act 
of  the  mind,  it  is  not  a  created  essence  which  is  placed  within 
the  soul.  It  is  not  a  substance  created  independently  of  the 
soul  and  placed  within  it  by  Almighty  power.  It  is  not  a 
principle.  For  the  expression,  a  principle  of  faith,  is  as 
unmeaning  as  a  principle  of  joy,  or  a  principle  of  sorrow,  or 
a  principle  of  remorse.  God  promises,  man  believes,  and 
this  is  the  whole  of  it."  *  *  *  *  "  The  word  (impute) 
is  never  used  to  denote  imputing  in  the  sense  of  transferring, 
or  of  charging  that  on  one  which  does  not  properly  belong 
to  him.     The  same  is  the  case  in  the  New  Testament.     The 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  57 

word  occurs  about  forty  times  (See  Schmiciius'  Concor.)  and 
in  a  similar  signification.  No  doctrine  of  transferring  or  of 
setting  over  to  man  what  does  not  properly  belong  to  him, 
be  it  sin  or  holiness,  can  be  derived  therefore  from  this  word. 
Whatever  is  meant  by  it  here,  it  evidently  is  declared  that 
the  act  of  believing  is  that  which  is  intended  both  by  Moses 
and  by  Paul."  And  again  on  the  21st  verse,  "It  was  impu- 
ted unto  him  for  righteousness,"  he  remarks:  "He  was  tried 
and  he  had  such  confidence  in  God  that  he  showed  that  he 
was  supremely  attached  to  him  and  would  obey  and  serve 
him.  This  was  reckoned  as  a  full  proof  of  friendship,  and 
he  was  recognized  and  treated  as  righteous,  i.  e.  as  the  friend 
of  God."  And  on  Romans  i,  17,  "  For  therein  is  the  righte- 
ousness of  God  revealed  from  faith  to  faith,"  he  remarks: 
"  It  does  not  say  that  it  is  on  legal  principles."  Hence  Mr. 
Barnes  obviously  teaches  that  faith  is  an  act  demonstrable 
of  love  to  God,  and  to  which  God  is  graciously  pleased  to 
promise  pardon,  though  it  receives  not,  as  indeed  it  cannot,  the 
"  righteousness  of  God  or  of  the  Messiah."  Mr.  Finnev  states 
that  "  Jesus  Christ  was  bound  to  obey  the  law  for  himself 
and  could  no  more  perform  works  of  supererogation  or  obey 
on  our  account  than  any  body  else."  *  *  *  "  Abraham's 
faith  was  imputed  to  him  for  righteousness,  because  it  was 
itself  an  act  of  righteousness,  and  because  it  worked  by  love 
and  therefore  produced  holiness.  Justifying  faith  is  holiness, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  and  produces  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  and  is 
imputed  to  the  believer  as  holiness,  not  instead  of  holiness.'' 
(See  Lectures  to  professing  Christians,  pp.  215,  216.)  From 
this  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  opposition  of  many  of  the 
New  School,  to  Mr.  Finney,  cannot  be  because  he  differs 
from  them  on  this  question.  He  may  express  himself  with 
less  caution,  with  less  of  circumlocution  and  tergiversation, 
and  in  a  way  more  calculated  to  awaken  "  the  voice  of  alarm," 
but  on  this  point  he  certainly  teaches  substantially  what  they 
teach. 


58        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

When  opposing  sects  hold  some  principle  which  is  com- 
mon to  them  all,  their  modes  of  explanation  and  defence  are 
usually  similar.     That  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  in  no 
sense  penal,  is  a  principle  received  in  common  by  the  New 
School  and  Unitarian  divines ;  and  hence  their  views  of  jus- 
tification strikingly  resemble  each  other.     "  Faith  (says  Dr. 
Dewey)  is  not  some  metaphysical  and  technical  condition  of 
salvation.     It  is  simply  a  Christian  grace.     It  is  essentially 
a  right  heart.     It  is  the  old,  the  everlasting,  the  universal 
condition  of  happiness  and  of  God's  favor  here  and  hereafter 
— a  right  heart.     And  this  is  prevailingly  represented  in  the 
New  Testament  as  putting  itself  forth  in  the  act,  in  the  form 
of  faith.     *     *     *     *     *     It  is  opposed  to  a  sense  of  merit 
founded  on  the  moral  law.     *     *     *     *     It  is  the  method 
of  justification,  or  of  acceptance  with  God.    *     *     *     #     It 
works  by  love,  but  it  is  opposed  to  a  proud  claim  of  God's 
favor   and  of  heaven    set  up  on  the  ground  of  complete 
obedience.    *     *     #     *     *    He  (Paul)  takes  them  on  their 
own  favorite  ground — justification:  he  takes  up  their  very 
word:  he  shows  them  that  they  cannot  be  justified  in  the 
way  they  propose:  he  tells  them  that  the  only  justification 
possible  is  of  another  kind — a  gratuitous  one,  being  treated 
as  if  just;  and  this  through  faith  in  the  mercy  of  God."  (See 
Dr.  Dewey's  Controversial  discourses,  pp.  322,  323,  326.) 
How  striking  the  coincidence  !     Faith  (says  Mr.  Barnes)  is 
an  act,  demonstrable  of  love  to  God.     It  is  a  state  of  mind 
to  which  God  is  graciously  pleased  to  promise  pardon.     It 
has  no  reference  to  the  righteousness  of  another,  of  God,  or 
of  the  Messiah.     God  promises  —  man  believes;  and  this  is 
the  whole  of  it.    It  is  (continues  Mr.  Finney)  itself  a  right- 
eousness.   It  is  reckoned  for  just  what  it  is.    "  It  is  (says  Dr. 
Dewey)  the  old,  the  everlasting,  the  universal  condition  of 
happiness   and  God's  favor   here  and  hereafter — it  is  the 
method  of  justification  or  of  acceptance  with  God."     It  is 
"God's  plan  of  justifying  men."  Barnes'  N.  Rom.  i.  17. 


\ 

DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  59 

If,  then,  faith,  respected  simply  as  an  act  of  the  mind,  is 
itself  imputed  to  us  for  righteousness,  then  God  has  "denied 
himself;"  (2  Tim.  ii.  13;)  truth  falls  by  his  own  hand,  and 
the  reputation  of  his  justice  perishes  forever.  For,  according 
to  this,  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  not  just;  they  were  not 
legal;  they  were  not  the  penalty  of  sin;  and  hence  impress 
us,  not  with  the  evil  of  sin,  but  with  the  evil  of  innocence, 
under  the  government  of  that  God  who  cuts  off  the  right- 
eous in  his  righteousness,  and  reckons  and  treats  the  guilty 
as  though  they  were  innocent,  when  it  is  well  understood, 
that  the  reckoning  is  thoroughly  false,  and  the  treatment,  an 
abandonment  of  his  law,  and  a  violation  of  his  word.  If 
faith  is  at  last  the  condition  of  salvation,  without  the 
righteousness,  it  would  have  been  far  more  creditable,  also, 
that  it  should  have  been  the  condition,  without  the  sufferings 
of  the  Messiah;  for  these  were  not  the  penalty  of  our  sins: 
they  were  not  required  by  the  justice  of  God.  If  they 
were,  then  they  were  penal:  but,  as  they  were  not  penal, 
justice  did  not  require  them;  and  there  can  be  no  assignable 
justification  for  this  unearthly  murder.  It  is  a  shame  to 
speak  of  it  as  defensible  on  any  ground,  when  it  does  not 
comprehend  in  it  the  curse  of  our  sins.  Take  this  away, 
this  cause  everywhere  assigned  in  the  Scriptures,  as  the 
cause  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  his  death  is  taken,  at 
once,  out  from  among  all  other  instances  of  criminal  violence, 
and  made  to  stand  out  alone,  as  the  greatest  outrage  ever 
perpetrated  under  any  government.  It  was  the  unnecessary 
expenditure  of  unforfeited  happiness ;  the  criminal  waste  of 
the  innocent  blood.  If,  then,  faith,  as  it  is  an  act,  is  made 
the  condition  of  salvation,  with  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  it 
would  have  served  that  purpose  far  better  without  them;  for 
they  serve  only  the  more  deeply  to  embarrass  and  disgrace 
the  whole  transaction.  It  is  surely  shame  sufficient,  to 
represent  God  as  "  denying  himself,"  and  abandoning  his 
law,  after  all  the  pledges  he  had  given,  that  he  would  not 


60        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

do  it,  without  adding  the  additional  infamy  of  death,  inflicted 
by  his  own  hand  and  providence,  on  the  loveliest  person  in 
the  universe  ;  "  That  be  far  from  thee,  to  do  after  this 
manner,  to  slay  the  righteous  with  the  wicked,  and  that  the 
righteous  should  be  as  the  wicked.  That  be  far  from  thee. 
Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  1 "  Gen.  xviii.  25. 
If  justice  is  dishonored — if  the  law  is  cast  out,  this  is  all- 
sufficient,  without  adding  more  —  without  destroying  every 
other  remaining  lineament  of  moral  beauty  in  the  character 
of  the  ever-blessed  God. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  New  School  make  void 
the  law  of  God,  and  make  void  the  death  of  Christ ;  for,  if 
he  did  not  bear  our  sins,  as  he  had  no  sins  of  his  own,  he 
hung  upon  the  tree  to  no  good  purpose,  so  far  as  we  can 
discover ;  and  it  had  been  better  that  the  sorrowful  tragedy 
had  never  been  enacted.  So  that  this  error  involves  in 
it  several  great  enormities.  It  represents  God  as  commit- 
ting violence,  both  upon  his  justice  and  upon  his  Son,  —  as 
weak,  and  fickle,  and  false;  in  making  a  law  which  he  could 
not  maintain,  in  uttering  curses  which  he  is  forced  to 
reverse,  and  in  reckoning  men  to  be  righteous,  when  there 
is  no  single  respect  in  which  that  reckoning  can  be  true. 

But  I  have  not  done  with  this  prolific  error.  It  makes 
punishment  unnecessary  to  the  proper  vindication  of  the  law: 
punishment,  according  to  it,  is  not  required  by  the  justice  of 
God.  Those  who  escape  its  penalty  are  reckoned  righteous 
by  a  fiction.  Justice  has  had  no  satisfaction,  and  requires 
none ;  for  if  it  did,  they  would  not  have  escaped  without  its 
being  rendered.  Justice,  moreover,  having  required  no  sat- 
isfaction of  the  redeemed  for  their  sins,  does  not  necessarily 
require  it  of  any;  for  that  which  would  make  satisfaction 
necessary  for  the  sins  of  any,  would  make  the  same  satisfac- 
tion necessary  for  the  sins  of  all.  Justice  cannot  dispense 
with  a  necessary  quality;  for  that  would  be  to  destroy  its 
very  nature.     But  it  has  dispensed  with  the   penalty   of 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  61 

the  law,  and  that  without  satisfaction,  in  the  case  of  the 
redeemed  ;  therefore,  that  penalty  is  not  necessary  to  it : 
it  is  not  required  by  the  justice  of  God  to  be  inflicted  on 
any:  and  if  inflicted  at  all,  it  is  not  demanded  either  by  the 
law  of  God  or  by  the  justice  of  his  nature.  And,  if  neither 
law  nor  justice  demand  the  infliction  of  the  penalty,  it  will 
never  be  inflicted  on  any.  "  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth  do  right  1 "  So  that,  whichsoever  way  we  turn,  this 
error  meets  us  with  an  aspect  every  way  dishonorable  to 
the  character  of  God,  and  effectuallv  and  forever  subverts 
his  moral  government. 

How  can  we,  then,  regard  the  matters  which  divide  us  as^ 
in  their  own  nature  trifling;  as  questions  in  the  mere  philoso- 
phy of  religion;  as  no  sufficient  justifiable  cause  for  division 
and  separation?     Is  it,   then,   of  no  account  whether  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  or  our  own  state  of  mind  is  imputed 
to  us  for  a  justifying  righteousness]     Is  it  of  no  moment  to 
us,  whether  faith  has  reference  to  the  righteousness  of  God 
or  of  the  Messiah,  or  whether  it  has  not  ?  whether  justice  is 
treated  as  an  attribute,  and   the  law  as   an  institution,  or 
whether  their  claims  are  set  aside  by  an  act  of  divine  sove- 
reignty; and  "the  whole  legal  system  suspended  to  make 
way  for  the  operation  of  one  of  a  different  character]"  (See 
Beman  on  Atonement,  p.   133.)      No;  it  cannot  be.     The 
principles  involved  in  this  controversy,  are  too  sacred,  and 
too  momentous,  ever  to  be  relinquished,  while  faith,  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  lingers  in  the   church,  or  a  singles 
throb  of  gratitude  is  felt  among  the  redeemed.     Who  that 
loves  God,  would  not  rather  that  heaven  and  earth  should 
pass  away,  than  that  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  law  should  fail  1 
Who  could  be  pleased  to  see  the  eternal  Son  making  com- 
mon cause  with  rebels  and  conspirators  against  the  law,  and 
employing  his  infinite  power  and  skill,  in  not  satisfying,  but 
in  evading  its  claims  ;  banishing  it  from  the  fire  and  darkness 
of  Sinai — from  the  glory  of  heaven — from  the  face  of  the 


62        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

eternal  throne,  and  sullying  its  fleecy  robe  of  infinite  purity, 
with  the  sins  of  men  unrequited.  Who  that  delights  "  in 
the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man,"  could  be  gratified 
with  "such  a  spectacle  of  guilt  and  shame]" 

I  am  aware  that  Mr.  Barnes  and  the  New  School  divines 
often  express  themselves  in  language  inconsistent  with  these 
views  of  their  sentiments.  But  when  Mr.  Barnes  uses 
orthodox  phrases,  he  takes  occasion,  with  commendable 
frankness,  ultimately  to  explain  himself,  as  not  intending 
thereby  to  contradict,  or  invalidate,  or  modify  his  opinions 
or  sentiments,  but  as  intending  thereby  to  "  silence  the  voice 
of  alarm."  A  similar  course  was  pursued  by  Arius  and 
Arminius.  They  softened  their  statements,  and  avowed 
their  belief  in  an  orthodox  creed,  "  to  silence  the  voice  of 
alarm."  Dr.  Dewey,  also,  avows  his  belief  in  atonement, 
satisfaction,  propitiation,  depravity,  regeneration,  and  justi- 
fication. "  It  was  (says  he)  a  bitter  and  a  bloody  propitia- 
tion ;  it  was  a  death  endured  for  us.  Ah  !  sinful  being  that 
I  am,  that  such  an  one  should  suffer  for  me !  It  is  I  that 
deserved  to  suffer :  but  God  hath  made  him  a  propitiation 
for  mv  sins.  Could  nothing  else  set  forth  before  me  the 
curse  of  sin — no  other  hand  bear  the  burden  of  my  redemp- 
tion]" Controversial  Discourses,  p.  99.  The  legitimate 
inquiry,  then,  is,  not  what  statements  the  New  School  have 
made,  or  what  forms  of  phraseology  they  sometimes  use, 
which  appear  inconsistent  with  the  errors  charged  upon 
them ;  but  what  is  finally  the  real  explanation,  which  they 
themselves  furnish,  of  their  own  language. 

Error  is  engraven  on  the  face  of  truth.  If  it  stood  alone, 
in  its  own  naked  deformity,  it  would  at  once  circulate  the 
feeling  of  alarm.  This  is  well  understood  by  its  advocates, 
and  hence  indirection  is  commonly  resorted  to,  to  gain  prose- 
lytes. "  By  good  words  and  fair  speeches,  they  deceive 
the  hearts  of  the  simple."  Rom.  xvi.  18.  Prof.  Stewart 
is  greatly  annoyed  at  the  course  pursued  by  his  former 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  63 

pupil,  Dr.  Dewey,  in  this  respect.  He  finds  fault  with  his 
saying  one  thing  when  he  means  another.  "  It  merits  [in 
his  view]  the  scorn  of  every  upright  and  honest  man."  See 
Dr.  Dewey's  Controversial  Discourses,  p.  54.  Yet  venera- 
ble men,  who  set  the  example,  and  lead  the  wTay,  have  the 
greater  sin.  If  the  advocates  of  the  new  divinity,  in  oppos- 
ing the  old,  may  consistently  say  one  thing  and  explain 
themselves  to  mean  another,  then  they  should  suffer  Dr. 
Dewey  to  remain  in  the  unmolested  enjoyment  of  the  same 
privilege,  and  to  avail  himself  of  all  the  advantages  accruing 
to  his  cause  from  chicanery  and  indirection  in  controversy. 
But  we  have  not  so  learned  Christ.  He  is  a  God  of  integ- 
rity, and  has  not  called  us  to  walk  in  cunning  craftiness,  and 
to  practice  our  arts  on  the  unsuspecting.  A  system  that 
requires  such  a  method  of  defense,  is  not  from  him ;  and 
those  who  have  resorted  to  it,  will  find  it  anything  but  a 
pleasing  reminiscence  upon  a  dying  bed. 

All  that,  then,  which  is  said  of  the  righteousness  of  God 
revealed,  in  the  gospel  Rom.  i.  19;  of  Christ  as  the  Lord  our 
righteousness,  Jer.  xxiii.  6;  of  the  believer's  resolution  to 
make  mention  of  his  righteousness  and  of  his  only,  Ps.  lxxi. 
16.;  of  Christ's  being  made  of  God  unto  us,  righteousness, 
1  Cor.  i.  30;  of  winning  Christ  and  being  found  in  him, 
not  having  our  own  righteousness,  Phil.  iii.  9;  all  that  clear 
and  abundant  testimony  contained  in  the  gospel,  that  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  is  made  ours  in  the  judgment  of  God 
and  received  by  faith  alone,  is  made  to  signify,  a  mere  act 
of  our  own  minds.  "This  is  the  whole  of  it."  "As  this  is 
not  a  matter  of  law,  as  the  law  could  not  be  said  to  demand 
it,  as  it  is  on  a  different  principle,  and  as  the  acceptance  of 
faith  or  of  a  believer  cannot  be  a  matter  of  merit  or  claim, 
so  justification  is  of  grace  or  mere  favor."  See  Mr.  Barne's 
Notes,  Rom.  iv.  3.  Again,  (Rom.  iv.)  in  the  same  place  : 
"  As  the  law  did  not  demand  this,  and  as  faith  was  some- 
thing different  from  the  demand  of  the  law,  so-  if  a  man 


64        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

were  justified  by  that,  it  was  on  a  principle  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  justification  by  works ;  it  was  not  by  personal 
merit ;  it  was  not  by  complying  with  the  law."  Faith,  then, 
as  it  is  a  mere  act  of  the  mind,  regarded  alone  and  by  itself, 
separate  from  obedience  to  the  law,  and  from  the  reception 
of  the  "  righteousness  of  God,  or  of  the  Messiah,"  is  reck- 
oned to  us  for  a  righteousness ;  reckoned  for  precisely  what 
it  is  not,  and  what  it  cannot  be,  according  to  the  reasonings 
of  this  enemy  of  imputation.  '•  God  (says  he)  reckons  things 
as  thev  are,  and  not  falsely,  and  his  imputations  are  all 
according  to  truth."  See  Notes,  Rom.  v.  19..  But  in  this 
instance  the  reckoning  is  false;  the  thing  is  reckoned  as  it 
is  not,  and  the  imputation  is  not  according  to  truth.  It  i3 
wholly  arbitrary,  false,  and  without  the  least  foundation  in 
truth,  in  law,  or  in  justice.  And  yet,  we  are  assured,  that 
"God  does  not  esteem  men  to  be  different  from  what  they 
are."  See  Notes,  Rom.  i.  17.  God  reckons  things  as  they 
are,  and  not  falsely,  and  his  imputations  are  all  according  to 
truth  :"  i.  e.:  the  believer  is  reckoned  to  be  just  by  a  "plan," 
by  a  "method,"  by  an  arbitrary  determination,  when  he 
is  not  so  in  fact.  "  It  was  not  by  personal  merit ;  it  was  not 
by  complying  with  the  law ;"  not  by  the  "  righteousness  of 
another."  Indeed,  the  whole  reckoning  is  both  false  and 
farcical.  In  the  language  of  Dr.  Beman,  "  the  whole  legal 
system  is  suspended."  Justice  is  abandoned;  the  law  is 
civen  up ;  and  truth  and  righteousness,  in  the  salvation  of 
believers,  are  doomed  to  have  no  further  share  in  the  moral 
government  of  God;  of  that  God  whose  "imputations  are 
all  according  to  truth."  Oh  !  how  fraught  with  self-contra- 
diction and  pitiable  imbecility,  is  this  whole  starvling  imita- 
tion of  the  gospel.  It  is  a  city  broken  down  and  without 
wails;  a  kingdom  full  of  darkness.  On  it,  no  radiance  falls 
from  the  sun  of  righteousness ;  across  its  fearful  solitudes, 
no  godly  man  can  find  his  weary  way.  "It  is  a  land  of 
droughts,  and  pits,  and  snares,  and  of  the  shadow  of  death." 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  05 

The  gospel  itself  is  full  of  sweetness  :  "With  honey  out 
of  the  rock  have  I  satisfied  thee."  It  presents  to  us  no  mere 
act  of  arbitrary  pardon.  The  atonement  of  Christ  is  a 
finished  work :  it  makes  ample  provision  for  the  believer ; 
and  the  definition  given  of  it  by  the  law-giver  himself,  shows 
that  it  was  composed  of  several  parts,  all  of  which  went  to 
make  up  a  complex  act,  called  the  Atonement.  The  high 
priest,  in  the  confession  of  the  sins  of  the  whole  congregation, 
laid  them  on  the  head  of  the  scape-goat,  and  he  was  lead 
away  into  a  land  uninhabited  ;  commonly  thrown  from  a 
precipice,  that  he  might  never  return.  This  is  the  imputa- 
tion of  atonement.  "  The  Lord  did  lay  upon  him  the  iniquity 
of  us  all.  Isa.  liii.  6.  The  other  goat  was  killed  and  sacri- 
ficed on  the  altar.  This  was  the  sacrifice  of  atonement,  and 
represents  the  "offering  of  the  body  of  Christ  once  for  all;" 
(Ileb.  x.  10;)  and  the  fires  of  justice,  which  kindled  upon  the 
sacrifice,  mounted  up  in  the  lifting  up  of  smoke,  and  filled 
the  heavens  with  the  frown  of  God,  representing  that  dread- 
fid  frown  which  fell  upon  the  forsaken  Son,  on  the  accursed 
tree ;  which  wasted  his  soul  and  consumed  his  life,  and  which 
filled  heaven  and  earth  with  terrific  darkness.  The  blood, 
taken  and  sprinkled  seven  times  before  the  throne,  in  the 
innermost  sanctuary,  was  the  intercession  of  atonement, 
and  represented  our  High  Priest  in  the  heavens,  before  the 
throne  of  God  on  high.  "For  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the 
holy  places  made  with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the 
true  ;  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the  presence 
of  God  for  us;"  (Heb.  ix.  24;)  and  that  "with  his  own 
blood;"  (Heb.  ix.  12;)  "ever  living  to  make  intercession  for 
us."  Heb.  vii.  25.  The  subsequent  sprinkling  of  "  all  the 
people  and  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry,  (Heb.  ix.  19,  20, 
21,)  was  the  reconciliation  of  atonement,  and  represents 
"God,  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not 
imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them."  2  Cor.  v.  19.  Not 
any  one  of  the  several  parts  of  this  complex  transaction,  is 

5 


66  OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

the  atonement,  but  all  of  them  put  together  were  necessary 
to  fulfill  the  meaning  of  the  word,  as  used  by  the  law-giver. 
We  turn,  then,  to  Christ,  as  the  world  did  to  Joseph  from 
the  reign  of  a  universal  famine,  not  only  for  some  one  of  the 
means  of  subsistence,  but  for  all  of  them.     They  are  to  be 
found,  absolutely,  none  of  them,  any  where  else.     If  we 
need  righteousness,  we  come  to  him;  faith — "it  is  the  gift 
of  God;  (Eph.  ii.  8;)  repentance  and  pardon  —  "he  is  exalted 
*     *     to  give  repentance  unto  Israel,  and  the  forgiveness  of 
sins;"  (Acts  v.  31  ;)  indeed,  "it  pleased  the  Father  that  in 
him  should  all  fullness  dwell,  and  out  of  his  fullness  have  all 
we  received,  and  grace  for  grace."     John  i.  16.     "Jesus 
has  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  spirit."    Acts 
ii.  33.     "He  giveth  not  the  spirit  by  measure  unto  him." 
John  iii.   34.      Every  grace,   therefore,  which  invests  the 
moral  nature  of  his  disciples,   whatsoever  things  in  their 
characters  is  lovely  and  of  good  report,  if  there  be  any 
virtue,  any  thing  worth)?'  of  praise,  it  is  wrought  in  them  by 
his  spirit,  and  according   to  the    ample  provisions   of  the 
atonement.     We- turn,  then,  from  the  cold  systems  of  phi- 
losophers,  to  the   more  genial  ones  of  the  Prophets  and 
Apostles  of  the  Lamb;  from  a  world  of  chaos,  to  a  world  of 
harmony  and  beauty  —  to  the  living  melodies  of  Zion,  to  its 
gorgeous   heavens,    its   sun   of  righteousness,  its   softened 
landscapes,  and  its  milder  skies;  where  youth  is  given  to 
age,  and  feet  to   the  lame,  and  where  decline   and  death 
cannot  abide.     God  in  Christ  can  do  that  which  is  far  more 
desirable  than  to  pronounce  us  just,  falsely,  than  to  save  by 
an  arbitrary  acquittal  of  the  guilty ;  can  do  better  than  thus 
to  break  the  pillars  of  his  own  throne,  and  cover  its  eternal 
glories  with  sackcloth.     He  can  do  more,  by  the  atonement, 
than  to  acquit  or  pardon  :  "  He  can  have  compassion  on  the 
ignorant,  and  on  them  that  are  out  of  the  way."  Hcb.  v.  1,  2. 
"  Dunamenos"  literally,  He  is  able.     The  ability  is  acquired 
by  the   atonement.     .The  compassion  existed  in  his  own 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  67 

bosom,  bat  it  could  have  no  egress.  It  was  a  pent-up  ocean 
of  pity,  that  sought  a  channel  for  its  refreshing  streams,  that 
they  might  moisten  the  rock  and  renovate  the  desert.  Christ 
opened  that  channel  for  the  Father's  pity,  and  his  own.  And 
(" Metrwpqthein"  Heb.  v.  2,)  he  has  the  ability  in  the  suf- 
ficient measure,  or  without  limit.  It  had  limits  in  Moses ; 
he  could  not  carry  the  people  across  the  wilderness,  in  a 
bosom  that  could  always  put  a  perfect  restraint  upon  its  just 
resentments.  "  Have  I  conceived  all  this  people  ]  have  I 
begotten  them,  that  thou  shouldst  say  unto  me,  Carry  them 
in  thy  bosom,  as  a  nursing  father  beareth  the  sucking  child, 
unto  the  land  which  thou  swearest  unto  thy  fathers'?  Whence 
should  I  have  flesh  to  give  unto  all  this  people  1  for  they 
weep  unto  me,  saying,  Give  us  flesh,,  that  we  may  eat.  I 
am  not  able  to  bear  all  this  people  alone,  because  it  is  too 
heavy  for  me.  And  if  thou  deal  thus  with  me,  kill  me,  I 
pray  thee,  out  of  hand,  if  I  have  found  favor  in  thy  sight ; 
and  let  me  not  see  my  wretchedness."  Num.  xL  12,  13,  14 
15.  But  Christ  does  "not  fail ;'r  he  is  never  "discour- 
aged;'7 (Isa.  xlii.  4;)  his  capacity  to  bear  with  his  people  is 
always  full  and  sufficient.  The  long-suffering  of  our  Lord 
is  salvation,  (2  Pet.  iii.  15r)  because  it  never  gives  way  to 
provocation.  If  it  were  the  patience  of  a  mere  creature,  it 
would :  but  it  is  the  patience  of  the  Son.  He  "  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out"  (John  vi.  37.)  those  that  come,  those  that 
sin  not  against  the  remedy  itself,  by  their  unbelief.  The 
natural  mother's  place  can  never  be  supplied  by  a  step- 
mother. However  great  her  conscientiousness  and  efforts, 
nothing  can  supply  the  absent  principle  of  maternal  love. 
Solomon,  by  appealing  to  this  principle,  distinguished  the 
true  mother  from  the  false.  Christ  is  not  defective  in  this 
respect :  the  tie  of  consanguinity  is  established ;  for,  foras- 
much as  the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he 
likewise  took  part  of  the  same.  Heb.  ii.  14.  Not  human; 
nature^,  under  imputed  guilt,  as,  a  lineal  descendant  #f  tbe? 


68        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

iirst  Adam  ;  it  was  not  by  ordinary  generation.  It  was  the 
nature  created  by  the  Holy  Ghost, — not  with  its  moral 
infirmities  ;  for  moral  infirmities  would  he  impossible  to  God 
the  Son ;  but  human  nature,  in  its  otherwise  fallen  state, — 
"compassed  with  infirmity."  With  a  delicate  frame,  our 
Lord  sat  down  in  weariness  and  hunger,  at  the  side  of 
Jacob's  well,  while  his  more  robust  disciples  could  go  on 
their  way.  He  was  susceptible  of  friendship,  and  loved  the 
amiable  John.  He  was  susceptible  of  painful  impressions, 
from  the  unkindness  and  cruelty,  the  falsehood  aud  treach- 
ery of  those  who  could  practise  on  his  confidence  and  abuse 
the  privilege  of  intimacy.  His  look,  that  broke  the  heart  of 
Peter,  was  that  of  injured  love :  and  his  complaint  in  David, 
when  he  was  betrayed  by  a  false-hearted  dependant,  shows 
how  deeply  his  pure  and  holy  soul  was  stung  by  that  act  of 
baseness.  "  For  it  was  not  an  enemy  that  reproached  me  ; 
then  I  could  have  borne  it :  neither  was  it  he  that  hated  me 
that  did  magnify  himself  against  me  ;  then  would  I  have  hid 
myself  from  him  :  but  it  was  thou,  a  man,  mine  equal,  my 
guide,  and  mine  acquaintance.  We  took  sweet  counsel 
together,  and  walked  unto  the  house  of  God  in  company." 
Ps.  lv.  12,  13,  14.  "  Yea,  mine  own  familiar  friend,  in 
whom  I  trusted,  which  did  eat  of  my  bread,  hath  lifted  up 
his  heel  against  me."  Ps.  xli.  9.  To  be  forty  days  without 
food,  amid  the  solitudes  of  a  desert,  to  be  tempted  by  the 
devil,  to  be  the  houseless  child  of  want,  to  be  despised  for 
his  poverty  and  rejected  in  his  testimony,  to  be  proved  at 
length,  a  malefactor  by  false  witnesses,  and  to  be  hung  in 
ignominy  on  a  tree.  These  were  some  of  the  evils  which 
he  endured,  and  which  show  him  "able  to  be  touched  with 
a  feeling  of  our  infirmities."  Hob.  iv.  15.  "Can  a  mother 
forget  her  sucking  child  ?  Yea,  she  may  forget,  [it  is  pos- 
sible, some  have  done  it,]  yet  will  not  I  forget  thee.  I  have 
graven  thee  on  the  palms  of  my  hands."  Isa.  xlix.  15,  16. 
They   were   nailed   to   the   cross   for   thv   sins.      I  have 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  69 

answered  thy  prayer:  ''Set  me  a  seal  upon  thy  heart." 
Sol's  Song,  viii.  6.  It  was  done  with  the  soldier's  spear, 
when  its  murderous  point  reached  the  fountains  of  salvation. 
And  can  I  forget]  No,  never!  But  " Metriopathein"  not 
only  measures  his  ability  to  bear  patiently,  but  to  relieve, 
actively  and  effectively,  and  in  the  greatest  extremities  of 
unworthiness  and  peril.  While  the  verb  is  in  the  passive 
voice,  it  has  an  active  signification.  He  sent  his  gospel  first 
to  Jerusalem  to  be  preached  to  his  murderers.  As  they 
were  in  the  greatest  danger,  so  they  needed  his  pity  most. 
He  laid  hold  on  Saul  of  Tarsus,  between  Damascus  and 
Jerusalem.  He  snatched  the  dying  thief  from  the  very 
gates  of  hell.  Nothing  could  stand  between  him  and  the 
objects  of  his  love  :  the  everlasting  mountains  would  in  an 
instant  be  scattered.  "All  that  the  Father  hath  given  to 
me,  shall  come  to  me."  John  vi.  37.  Is  repentance  neces- 
sary to  David?  He  sent  repentance  to  him,  and  David 
brought  before  him  the  "  sacrifice  of  a  broken  and  a  contrite 
heart."  Does  Peter  need  it]  He  sent  it  to  him,  and  "he 
went  out  and  wept  bitterly."  "  He  is  the  surety  of  the 
covenant;"  (Heb.  vii.  22;)  he  seals  it  with  his  blood,  fulfills 
all  its  conditions,  and  by  his  providence,  and  spirit,  and 
agency,  carries  out  all  its  merciful  provisions.  He  loses 
not  one  among  all  that  the  Father  gave  him.  "  Behold  I. 
and  the  children  that  God  hath  given  me."  Heb.  ii.  13.  Not 
one  is  missing,  even  among  those  most  feeble  or  most 
exposed  amid  the  dangers  of  the  way.  "  The  bruised  reed, 
he  did  not  break ;  the  smoking  flax  he  did  not  quench."  It 
was  a  great  and  a  difficult  task,  and  it  needed  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  one  who  could  bear  and  pity,  and  relieve,  in  an 
infinite  measure.  His  atonement,  then,  is  composed  of 
several  parts,  all  of  which  perfectly  correspond  with  each 
other,  and  secure  and  cover  the  same  interests.  Those  whose 
sins  are  borne  away  in  the  imputation  of  atonement  are  in- 
cluded in  its  sacrifice,  its  intercession,  and  its  reconciliation. 


10        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  blood  of  Christ  was  not  a  mere  appeal,  to  make  a 
great  impression.  It  was  "  the  blood  of  a  covenant ;"  (Heb. 
xiii.  20;)  a  covenant  established  upon  "better  promises  "  than 
one  that  could  be  broken.  It  secured  the  reconciliation:  "It 
put  his  laws  in  the  heart ;  it  wrote  them  on  the  mind  ;  and  it 
conveyed  an  infallible  mercy  even  to  the  unrighteousness  of 
his  people."  Heb.  viii.  10, 12.  It  provided  an  High  Priest  who 
"  could  have  compassion  on  the  ignorant  and  on  them  that 
were  out  of  the  way,"  with  a  patience  that  could  never  be 
provoked,  and  with  a  pity  that  could  never  grow  weary  of 
its  troublesome  charge.  Where  a  mother's  love  would  fail — 
all  human  kindness  fail ;  where  both  men  and  angels  would 
be  discouraged ;  in  every  possible  extremity  of  weakness, 
perverseness  and  guilt  -among  his  ever  erring  disciples,  he  is 
equal  to  his  work,  and  will  as  assuredly  accomplish  the 
reconciliation,  as  he  has  already  the  sacrifice  of  atonement. 
He  did  not  make  salvation  merely  possible,  but  certain.  He 
does  not  merely  open  the  way,  but  also  the  heart.  There 
is  not  only  virtue  in  him  for  the  helpless,  but  it  goes  out  of 
him,  and  their  feet  and  ankle  bones  receive  strength.  His 
atonement  not  only  provides  a  possible  pardon,  but  an  active 
and  an  efficient  remedy.  It  is  an  ever  welling  tide,  "  the 
streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  God."  It  removes 
not  only  one  obstacle,  but  every  obstacle.  It  is  as  broad 
and  beautiful,  and  sufficient  in  every  part  of  it,  as  it  is  in 
any  part  of  it.  Nothing  shall  be  wanting  to  complete  its 
glory,  and  to  awaken  the  halleluiahs  of  ransomed  millions. 
"  Unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and  that  washed  us  from  our  sins 
in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto 
God  and  his  Father,  unto  him  be  glory  and  dominion  forever 
and  ever,  Amen." 

Faith  can  never  turn  away  its  eye  from  the  perfect  work  of 
Christ,  to  admire  a  mere  act  of  arbitrary  indemnity,  that 
falsifies  every  principle  of  truth,  that  suspends  every  tittle  of 
the  law,  and  excludes  every  element  of  justice.     It  is  not 


DIFFERENCES    ON    IMPUTATION.  71 

Christ.  It  hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as  we  see  him  have.  It 
is  a  fearful  apparition,  calculated  to  awaken  horror,  rather 
than  confidence.  The  conjurations  of  philosophy,  not  the 
inspirations  of  heaven.  It  is  at  war  with  heaven,  with  its 
"  mercy  and  truth,"  with  its  "  righteousness  and  peace."  It 
is  at  war  with  Zion;  it  takes  away  the  sheaf  from  the  hungry, 
and  causes  her  naked  to  lodge  without  clothing.  To  lean 
upon  it,  is  to  lean  upon  a  shadow  that  declineth,  and  to  die  in 
its  embrace,  is  to  perish  from  the  way. 


"  Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee  : 
Let  the  water  and  the  blood, 
From  thy  wounded  side  which  flowed, 
Be  of  sin  the  double  cure  ; 
Cleanse  me  from  its  guilt  and  power." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


DOCTRINAL  DIFFERENCES  CONTINUED. 


The  Atonement — Its  sufficiency — The  New  School  limit  it  in  its  nature- 
The  differences  respect  its  nature,  not  its  extent. 


It  is  usual  for  opposing  parties  to  misunderstand,  and  to 
misrepresent  each  other.  Knowledge  is  limited,  language 
an  imperfect  medium  of  communicating  our  ideas,  and  hence 
we  are  often  called  upon,  to  explain  and  vindicate  our  exact 
opinions.  When  an  error  has  been  successfully  impaled,  its 
advocates  sometimes  also  lose  their  temper  and  assail  our 
characters.  We  are  not  however  in  such  an  event,  required 
to  abandon  the  point  at  issue,  to  go  out  in  our  personal  vin- 
dication. The  public  will  do  us  ample  justice  in  the  end,  and 
also  the  cause  which  we  oppose,  and  which  demands  from 
its  advocates  so  malicious  a  defence. 

In  matters  moreover  of  a  private  and  personal  nature,  few, 
will  feel  interested,  while  those  which  relate  to  our  peculiar 
religious  opinions,  are  of  general  interest,  affecting  the  hopes 
and  fears,  the  wants  and  woes  which  are  common  to  all  men. 
These,  it  can  seldom  be  inappropriate  in  the  spirit  of  charity 
to  explain,  discuss,  and  vindicate,  and  it  often  becomes  a  duty 
to  do  it.     "  Let  not  your  good  be  evil  spoken  of." 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  in  closing  these  chapters 
respecting  the  work  of  Christ,  something  ought  to  be  said  on 
those  points,  in  the  atonement,  in  which  our  views  as  Presby- 
terians are  misrepresented,  especially  as  in  them,  misrepre- 


THE    ATONEMENT.  73 

sentation,  addresses  itself  to  the  popular  prejudice,  which  it 
awakens,  to  the  iujury  of  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness. 

We  are  said  to  believe  that  the  atonement  is  limited  in 
its  nature  :  it  being  sufficient  for  the  salvation  of  the  elect, 
but  if  any  more  should  believe  or  be  included  it  would  re- 
quire additional  sufferings  on  the  part  of  Christ  to  save  them. 
"  Those  in  general  who  hold  the  theological  system  which  is 
called  generically  Calvinistic,  and  who  hold  it  perhaps  with 
equal  decision  and  sincerity  in  common,  though  palpably  not 
with  equal  correctness  in  degree  are  divided  here,  some 
holding  the  fullness  of  the  atonement  for  all  men.  others  the 
limitation  of  its  nature,  as  atonement  to  all  the  finally  saved." 
*  *  *  u  \ye  therefore  contend  for  the  fullness  of  the 
atonement."  (Introduction  to  Beman  on  the  Atonement  by 
Dr.  Cox,  p.  16.)  "  The  whole  question  respecting  limited 
or  general  atonement  is  settled  by  the  notions  which  we 
entertain  of  its  intrinsic  nature.  If  the  atonement  consisted 
in  Christ's  suffering  the  amount  of  misery  due  to  all  those 
who  will  be  saved ;  if  it  were  a  transaction  regulated  by  the 
principles  of  commutative  justice,  then  we  might  with  pro- 
priety talk  of  its  being  limited  to  the  elect.  In  this  case,  the 
sufferings  of  the  mediator,  must  have  been  measured  accor- 
ding to  the  number  of  individuals  who  were  to  be  saved. — 
(Beman  on  Atonement  p.  142.) 

Such  representations  are  common  and  the  impression  crea- 
ted is  injurious  because  it  is  false. #  We  do  not  believe  that 
the  atonement  is  limited  in  its  nature.  Its  limitation  in  this  re- 
spect is  impossible  and  absurd.  It  has  a  limit.  All  men  are 
not  included  in  it  or  saved  by  it ;  but  this  limit  is  in  the  pur- 
pose of  God,  not  in  the  nature  of  the  atonement ;  that  would 
remain  the  same,  whether  the  number  of  the  saved,  should 


*  Though  the  New  School  are  fond  of  representing  us  as  limiting  the 
Atonement  in  its  nature,  yet  I  am  acquainted  with  no  author  who  maintains 
this  view  of  the  subject,  but  Ezra  Stiles  Ely,  D.  D.  a  member  of  the  New 
School  General  Assembly. 


74        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

be  more  or  less.  The  same  is  true  of  the  mercy  of  God — 
it  is  infinite,  because  it  is  divine.  It  cannot  be  limited  in  its 
nature,  but  still  it  has  a  limit  beyond  which  it  does  not  extend; 
fallen  angels  and  lost  spirits  are  not  included  in  it  or  saved  by 
it :  the  limit,  however,  is  not  in  the  intrinsic  nature  of  the 
divine  mercy  but  in  the  determinations  of  the  divine  will. 

The  "  worth  and  efficacy"  of  the  atonement  arises  out  of 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  its  adaptation  from  his  humanity,  and 
its  limitation  from  the  terms  of  the  covenant  which  it  seals. 
"It  was  requisite  that  the  Mediator  should  be  God,  that  he 
might  sustain  and  keep  the  human  nature  from  sinking  under 
the  infinite  wrath  of  God  and  the  power  of  death,  give  worth 
and  efficacy  to  his  sufferings,  obedience  and  intercession,  and 
to  satisfy  God's  justice,  procure  his  favor,  purchase  a  peculiar 
people,  give  his  spirit  to  them,  conquer  all  their  enemies,  and 
bring  them  to  everlasting  salvation."  "It  was  requisite 
that  the  mediator  should  be  man,  that  he  might  advance 
our  nature,  perform  obedience  to  the  law,  suffer  and  make 
intercession  for  us  in  our  nature,  have  a  fellow  feeling  of  our 
infirmities,  that  we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons,  and 
have  comfort  and  access,  with  boldness  unto  the  throne  of 
grace."  (Larger  Catechism,  Ans.  38,  39.) 

Christ  is  God.  This  gives  "  worth  and  efficacy"  to  his 
atonement ;  its  worth  and  efficacy  are  measured  by  his  divin- 
itv;  no  circumference  can  be  found  to  it.  Like  the  horizon 
which  we  approach,  it  widens,  and  widens,  and  widens,  for- 
ever. Like  the  extreme  points  which  terminate  the  distances 
of  the  east  and  the  west;  their  separation  is  immeasurable  ; 
ages  which  never  begin  and  never  end  roll  between.  An  ocean 
which  rests  upon  no  bottom,  is  bounded  by  no  shore.  Such 
is  the  atonement  in  its  fullness.  We  are  conversant  with  no 
objects  within  the  whole  range  of  immensity  and  eternity, 
excepting  those  which  are  absolutely  infinite,  which  can  give 
us  any  adequate  illustrations  of  its  glorious  sufficiency. 

"  Forasmuch  also  as  the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh 


THE    ATONEMENT.  75 

and  blood,  he  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,"  obeyed  and 
suffered,  arose  and  ascended  in  our  common  nature;  and 
hence  arises  the  adaptation  of  his  atonement  to  all  human 
sinners.  His  human  nature  bears  a  common  relation  to  all 
who  possess  humanity.  Hence  the  atonement  in  its  suffi- 
ciency and  in  its  adaptation  would  require  no  alteration  were 
any  imaginable  number  included  in  it. 

This  view  of  the  subject  is  not  a  novelty  among  Presbyteri- 
ans, an  alternative  to  which  we  have  been  recently  driven  in 
sheer  self-defence.  This  will  be  seen  by  recurring  to  the 
above  quotation  from  the  catechism  in  which  the  sufficiency 
of  the  satisfaction  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  referred  to  his  Deity. 
Calvin  also  held  "  that  Christ  suffered  sufficiently  for  all  men, 
but  efficiently  for  the  elect  alone." 

"  To  the  honor  then  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Mediator,  God 
and  man,  our  all  sufficient  Redeemer,  we  affirm,  that  such 
and  so  great  was  the  dignity  and  worth  of  his  death  and  blood 
shedding,  of  so  precious  a  value,  of  such  an  infinite  fullness 
and  sufficiency  was  this  oblation  of  himself,  that  it  was  every 
way  able  and  perfectly  sufficient  to  redeem,  justify,  reconcile 
and  save,  all  the  sinners  in  the  world,  and  to  satisfy  the 
justice  of  God  for  all  the  sins  of  all  mankind,  and  to  bring  them 
every  one  to  everlasting  glory.  Now,  this  fullness  and  suffi- 
ciency of  the  merit  of  the  death  of  Christ,  is  a  foundation 
unto  two  things,  viz : 

The  general  publishing  of  the  gospel  unto  all  nations,  with 
the  right  that  it  hath  to  be  preached  to  every  creature,  (Mat. 
xx.  6.  Mark  xvi.  15.)  Because  the  way  of  salvation  which 
it  declares,  is  wide  enough  for  all  to  walk  in  ;  there  is  enough 
in  the  remedy  it  brings  to  light,  to  heal  all  their  diseases,  to 
deliver  them  from  all  their  evils  :  if  there  were  a  thousand 
worlds,  the  gospel  of  Christ  might,  upon  this  ground,  be 
preached  to  them  all ;  there  being  enough  in  it  for  the  salva- 
tion of  them  all,  if  so  be,  they  will  desire  virtue  from  him  by 
touching  him  in  faith,  the  only  way  to  draw  refreshment  from 


76       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

this  fountain  of  salvation.  That  the  preachers  of  the  gospel 
in  their  particular  congregations,  being  utterly  unacquainted 
with  the  purpose  and  secret  counsel  of  God,  being  also  for- 
bidden to  pry  or  search  into  it,  (Deut.  xxix.  29,)  may  from 
hence,  justifiably  call  upon  every  man  to  believe,  with  assur- 
ance of  salvation  unto  every  one,  in  particular  upon  his  so 
doing."    (Owen's  Death  of  Death,  p.  204.) 

"  The  ground  on  which  the  universality  of  the  gospel  offer 
proceeds,  is  the  all-sufficiency  of  Christ's  atonement.     This 
the  universal  gospel  message  supposes  and  affirms.     It  is  not 
said  in  the  gospel,  that  Christ  died  with  the  intention  that  all 
should  be  saved,  but  his  atonement  is  a  sufficient  ground  of 
salvation  to  all,  and  that  all  who  rest  on  this  ground  by  faith 
shall  be  saved.     This  is  all  that  the  gospel  asserts  ;  and  there 
is  nothing  here  but  what  is  true,  and  fit  to  be  made  known 
to  all.     Nor  is  any  thing  more  requisite  to  vindicate  the  uni- 
versality of  the  gospel  offer  from  the  charge  of  inconsistency 
or  insincerity.     The  atonement  of  Christ  being  sufficient 
for  all,  possessing  a  glorious,  infinite,  all-sufficiency,  it  is  with 
propriety  made  known  and  offered  to  the  acceptance  of  all. 
There  is,  in  this  case,  no  natural  impossibility  in  the  salva- 
tion of  any  man.     The  secret  design  of  God,  by  which  the 
application  is  restricted,  has  no  causal  influence  in  producing 
unbelief.     The  obstacles  to  salvation  are  all  moral,  that  is  to 
say,  are  such  only  as  arise  from  the  native  rebellion  and  hard- 
ness of  man's  own  heart.     A  sufficient  ground  of  salvation 
exists  ;  the  appropriate  means  of  salvation  are  provided  ;  and 
of  course,  a  proper  foundation  is  laid  for  man's  accountability, 
so  that,  in  rejecting  salvation  by  Christ,  he  is  absolutely  with- 
out excuse.     'He  that  believeth  not  shall  be  condemned.' ' 
(Symington  on  the  Atonement,  pp.  199,  200.) 

Thus  from  the  days  of  Calvin,  to  the  present  day  the  same 
view  is  taken  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  atonement.  Dr.  Jun- 
kin,  who  has  been  represented  in  this  region,  as  one  of  our 
most  ultra  men,  holds  the  following  language  on  this  point : 


THE    ATONEMENT.  77 

"  I  must  also  think,  that  the  sufferings  of  Jesus  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  number  of  the  finally  saved.  The  penalty  of 
the  law  is  the  same,  whether  one  or  two,  or  a  thousand  per- 
sons are  concerned.  Whether  the  Father  gives  ten  millions 
to  his  Son  as  the  reward  of  his  service — or  ten  million  times 
ten  millions,  the  obedience  and  sufferings  of  Jesus  are  the 
same.  It  was  for  him  to  meet  the  claims  of  law.  But  the 
demand  of  law  was  obedience  and  death.  This  obedience  to 
the  precept,  and  this  meeting  of  the  penalty  is  the  same, 
whether  one  man  or  the  whole  race  are  to  be  saved.  I  have, 
therefore,  no  sympathy  with  the  doctrine,  that  the  sufferings 
of  Jesus  must  have  been  graduated  according  to  the  number 
of  the  saved  :  so  that  if  the  number  were  increased,  there 
must  be  a  pro  rata,  increase  to  his  sufferings."  (Junkin  on 
Justification,  pp.  212,  243.)  But  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to 
pursue  these  quotations  farther.  I  have  adverted  to  this 
kind  of  testimony  simply  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  suf- 
ficiently our  precise  position  on  this  question. 

While,  moreover,  we  believe  in  the  fullness  of  the  atone- 
ment ;  we  also  believe  that  it  is  definite :  that  its  blood  is 
the  blood  of  a  covenant,  and  hence  is  called  "  the  blood  of 
the  everlasting  covenant ;"  that  apart  from  that  covenant 
which  it  ratified  and  sealed  the  death  of  Christ  would  be 
without  significance  or  efficacy.  It  would  be  no  atonement. 
The  covenant  which  the  blood  sealed  is  a  part  of  the  atone- 
ment, entering  into  the  very  nature  of  the  transaction.  The 
one  is  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  the  other,  because 
they  are  the  componant  parts  of  a  complex  action.  If  they 
are  separated  both  are  destroyed.  Christ  suffered  in  viewr 
of  the  promises  which  secured  to  him  definitely  "  the  travail 
of  his  soul,"  and  "  this  He  shall  fully  and  infallibly  realize 
and  be  satisfied."  The  covenant  comprehends  all  that  his 
death  purchased —  his  death  comprehends  all  that  the  cove- 
nant promised.  The  one  exactly  measures  and  defines  the 
other. 


78        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

Great  errors  often  arise  from  small  causes  and  a  wrong 
definition  of  the  word  atonement,  may  be  one  of  the  proxi- 
mate causes  of  the  prevalent  errors  on  this  subject.  When 
a  term  is  used,  and  carefully  defined  by  God  himself,  it  is 
always  safest  and  most  reverent,  to  adhere  to  that  definition 
in  the  use  of  it.  If  we  will  recur  to  the  definition  given  to 
the  word  atonement  on  the  day  of  the  great  annual  atone- 
ment, we  will  at  once  discover  that  it  consisted  not  in  one, 
but  in  may  things,  that  it  was  not  a  single,  but  a  complex 
action.  The  laying  of  the  sins  of  the  whole  congregation 
on  the  head  of  the  scape-goat  was  not  the  atonement,  but  the 
imputation  of  the  atonement.  The  sacrifice  of  the  other 
goat  was  not  the  atonement,  but  its  sacrifice.  The  sprink- 
ling of  the  blood  seven  times  was  not  the  atonement,  but  its 
intercession.  The  subsequent  sprinkling  of  all  the  people, 
and  of  the  place,  and  of  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry,  was 
not  the  atonement,  but  its  reconciliation  ;  not  any  one  of 
these  symbolic  actions  constituted  the  atonement,  but  all  of 
them  together.  When  atonement  was  made,  it  was  not 
completed  until  all  its  several  parts  were  completed.  It  was 
a  complex  action,  all  the  several  parts  of  which  were  fulfilled 
by  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  not  many;  but  one;  uniting  in  him- 
self the  scape-goat,  and  the  goat  for  sacrifice,  the  altar,  and 
the  Priest. 

But  the  New  School  while  they  profess. to  believe  in  the 
fulness  of  the  atonement,  in  its  universality,  that  Christ 
tasted  death  for  every  man,  practice  a  deception  upon  them- 
selves and  others,  by  the  terms  which  they  employ  and  do 
not  really  believe  that  Christ  died  for  any  man.  Indeed,  they 
speak  in  the  most  depreciating  style  of  his  death,  and  finally 
resolve  it  into  a  mere  indemnity  against  future  rebellion. 
"  Commutative  justice  was  not  satisfied  by  the  atonement. 
*  *  *  Distributive  justice  was  not  satisfied  by  the 
transaction.  *  *  *  The  penalty  of  the  law  strictly 
speaking,  was  not  inflicted  at  alL    •    *    *     JM  that  the 


THE    ATONEMENT.  79 

atonement  has  effected  for  the  sinner  is  to  place  him  within 
the  reach  of  pardon.  *  *  *'  It  merely  prepared  the 
way  for  the  proclamation  of  mercy,  to  rebels  and  the  ex- 
tension of  actual  pardon  to  every  believer  in  Christ  Jesus. 
*  #  #  But  if  the  atonement  merely  rendered  pardon 
compatible  with  the  glory  of  God  and  the  public  good,  if  it 
did  not  require  but  merely  permitted  God  to  extend  forgiv- 
ness  to  sinners.  *  *  *  If  the  atonement  consists  not  in 
cancelling  the  demand  for  any  man  or  for  all  men,  but  in 
opening  the  door  of  hope  in  rendering  the  pardon  of  sin- 
ners consistent  with  the  character,  law  and  universe  of  God, 
then  the  question  of  extent  is  settled  at  once.  *  *  * 
The  atonement  does  not  of  itself  save  a  single  soul.  It 
barely  opens  the  door  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object 
by  the  free  and  sovereign  grace  of  God."  (Beman  on 
Atonement  pp.  132,  133,  134,  135,  136,  137,  141,  142,  155.) 
Here,  in  these  few  short  quotations,  there  are  at  least 
seven  instances  in  which  the  language  of  depreciation  is  used 
respecting  the  atonement ;  and  one  instance  in  which  it  is 
said  that  "  in  itself  it  does  not  save  a  single  sow/,"  and  in 
another,  that  it  does  not  cancel  the  demand  even  "  for  one 
man,'''  and  in  any  event  it  merely  does  this  and  it  barely 
effects  that ;  so  that  the  New  School  while  they  contend  for 
the  extent  of  the  atonement  and  profess  to  believe  that 
Christ  died  for  every  man,  limit  it  to  a  mere  nothing,  and 
deny  in  the  progress  of  the  controversy  that  he  died  for  any 
man. 

Mr.  Barnes  also  makes  the  atonement  a  very  insignificant 
matter.  According  to  him  the  text  in  Rom.  i.  17,  does  not 
say  that  justification  was  on  legal  principles,  and  he  labors 
hard  every  where  to  show  that  we  are  not  justified  in  this 
way,  because  Christ  did  not  obey  for  us,  nor  suffer  penally 
for  us,  that  our  sins  were  not  imputed  to  him,  nor  is  his 
righteousness  imputed  to  us,  but  we  are  justified  by  a  plan 
in  which  faith  as  it  is  an  act  of  the  mind  and  as  it  does  not 


80        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

receive,  and  as  indeed  it  cannot  either  the  righteousness  of 
God  or  of  the  Messiah,  is  reckoned  to  us  for  righteousness. 
All  that  the  death  of  Christ  effects,  is  to  make  this  course 
consistent  and  safe. 

In  his  preface  to  Butler's  Analogy,  he  vindicates  what  he 
terms  "  the  main  principle  of  atonement,"  in  the  following 
manner  :  "  The  toil  of  a  father  is  the  price  by  which  a  son 
is  saved  from  ignorance,  depravity,  want,  or  death;  the  tears 
of  a  mother,  and  her  long  watchfulness  save  from  the  perils 
of  infancy  and  an  early  death.  Friend  aids  friend  by  toil. 
A  parent  foregoes  rest  for  a  child,  and  the  patriot  pours  out 
his  blood  on  the  altars  of  freedom,  that  others  may  enjoy  the 
blessings  of  liberty,  that  is,  that  others  may  not  be  doomed 
to  slavery,  want,  and  death." 

But  the  instances  here  named,  do  not  vindicate  any  princi- 
ple of  the  atonement,  i.  e.  they  do  not  distinguish  it  from 
paternal  love,  humanity,  friendship,  patriotism,  martyrdom, 
and,  therefore,  the  analogies  are  no  analogies  ;  they  do  not 
reach,  strictly  speaking,  any  principle  peculiar  to  the  atone- 
ment ;  they  exhibit  the  toils  and  trials  of  paternal  love,  friend- 
ship, patriotism,  and  this  is  all.  In  the  atonement  the  inno- 
cent suffers  for  the  guilty  on  legal  principles.  Christ  takes 
the  sinner's  place  under  the  broken  law  of  offended  heaven, 
and  bears  its  bitter  curse  and  puts  away  sin,  by  the  sacrifice 
of  himself;  and  as  he  redeems  us  from  tha  curse  of  the  law, 
so  he  suffers  upon  legal  principles  and  any  other  sufferings 
of  parents,  patriots,  and  martyrs,  are  not  of  the  nature  of 
atonement;  i.  e.  they  are  not  sufferings  inflicted  by  the  law- 
giver on  the  innocent  for  the  sins  of  the 'guilty,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  justice. 

The  principle  of  atonement  vindicated  by  Mr.  Barnes,  is 
strictly  Unitarian.  i:  He  certainly  is  mistaken  when  he 
says  that  Unitarians  deny  all  such  substitution.  We  deny 
the  Calvinistic  explanation  of  atonement  or  substitution. 
We  might  reject  the  author's  hypothesis,   too,  if  we  knew 


THE    ATONEMENT.  81 

what  it  was.  But  does  it  follow  that  we  deny  all  substitu- 
tion— on  the  contrary  we  especially  hold  to  such  substitu- 
tion." (Dewey's  Controversial  Discourses  pp.  13,  14,  Note.) 
And  he  is  certainly  mistaken  likewise,  if  he  thinks  to  pass  oft' 
on  enlightened  Presbyterians  the  self-denial  of  parents, 
friends  and  patriots  for  the  main  principle  of  atonement — 
to  restrict  the  atonement  in  its  main  principle  to  a  point  so 
insignificant  not  only  limits  but  destroys  it  altogether. 

Thus,  then,  the  New  School  limit  the  atonement  with  re- 
spect to  the  obedience  of  Christ,  it  was  for  himself ;  with 
respect  to  the  death  of  Christ,  it  does  not  save  a  single  soul; 
it  does  not  meet  the  penalty  of  the  law  ;  it  barely  opens 
the  door  to  a  possible  pardon  ;  it  is  not  on  legal  principles  ; 
its  main  principle  is  self-denial ;  it  is  indeed,  in  every  respect 
limited  and  in  almost  every  possible  way  made  contemptible. 
The  true  defenders,  therefore,  of  an  atonement  limited  in  its 
very  nature,  are  to  be  sought  for  among  the  New  School 
themselves.  They  limit  it  effectually,  because  they  take  from 
it  every  ingredient  that  could  make  it  either  sufficient  or 
efficacious.  According  to  them,  the  death  of  Christ  is  suf- 
ficient and  efficacious  in  one  respect  and  in  one  only  ;  it  ren- 
ders pardon  consistent,  permits  its  exercise,  places  it  within 
reach,  and  this  is  all. 

But  the  death  of  Christ  comprehends  in  it  the  entire  re- 
demption of  his  church.  It  is  the  vast  foundation  on  which 
it  rests,  the  living  source  of  its  origin,  progress  and  triumph. 
We  are  chosen  in  him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
and  he  finished  the  work  given  him  to  do,  removing  every 
obstacle  out  of  the  way  of  the  salvation  of  his  people,  and 
procuring  for  them  eternal  life;  "for  by  one  offering  he  hath 
perfected  forever,  them  that  are  sanctified."  Heb.  x.  14. — 
All  is  now  secured  to  him,  all  is  now  a  joyful  waiting  for  the 
redemption  of  the  purchased  possession.  It  has  been  already 
conveyed  by  promise,  and  secured  by  price.     It  remains  only 

to  be  redeemed  by  power. 

6 


82  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

His  obedience  unto  death  makes  him  the  Lord  our  righte- 
ousness and  delivers  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law.  His  me- 
diatorial throne  and  triumphs  rest  upon  his  mediatorial  humi- 
liation. Phil.  ii.  9.  The  u  purpose  and  grace"  of  effectual 
calling  are  "given  us  in  Christ  Jesus."  "  The  washing  of 
regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  shed  upon 
us  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  "  For  our 
sakes  he  sanctified  himself,"  with  "  the  blood  of  the  cove- 
nant" and  offered  himself  without  spot  to  God.  The  Father 
also  acted  in  a  manner  becoming  himself  as  the  first  cause 
and  final  end  of  all  things,  "  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory, 
by  making  the  captain  of  their  salvation  perfect  through  suf- 
fering*" "It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  shoiuld  all  full- 
ness dwell."  And  thus  his  death  instead  of  effecting  barely 
one  thing,  effects  every  thing.  The  New  Testament  is  given 
us  in  his  blood.  The  sabbath  commemorates  his  triumph 
over  death.  The  supper  shows  forth  his  death.  The  strength 
of  the  law  is  broken,  the  sting  of  death  destroyed  and  the 
victory  given  us  over  every  enemy  and  finally  over  the  last, 
"  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  1.  Cor.  xv..  57.  Christ  is 
not  in  one  way  effective  only,  but  in  every  way,  "  Christ  is 
all,  and  in  all."  When  the  passage  is  read  "  he  was  led  as 
a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,"  and  the  inquiry  is  made,  of  whom 
speaketh  the  prophet  this,  of  himself  or  of  some  other  man? 
we  '•'  begin  at  the  same  scripture  and  preach  Jesus  ;"  we 
hold  him  up  to  the  understanding  as  the  object  of  faith,  and 
the  spirit  begets  him  in  the  heart  the  hope  of  glory.  The 
sun  shines  to  light  his  ransomed  people  on  their  way.  The 
rain  falls  and  the  earth  yields  her  increase  for  their  refresh- 
ment. "  The  heathen  are  his  inheritance  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  are  his  possession  ;  when  they  obstruct 
the  progress  of  his  kingdom  and  it  suits  his  will,  he  breaks 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  the  strongest  governments  are 
dashed  as  a  potters  vessel."  Ps.  ii.  He  shall  come  at  length 
m  his.  kingdom  purchased  by  him  on  the  cross,,  sit  upon  the 


THE    ATONEMENT.  83 

throne  of  his  glory,  raise  the  dead,  and  judge  the  universe-. 
To  this  throne  and  ^lorvhe  was  raised,  because  '*he  humbled 
himself  and  became  obedient  unto  death  even  the  death  of 
the  cross."  This  was  the  price  agreed  upon  in  the  covenant. 
It  was  not  to  be  silver  or  gold,  these  though  the  most  durable 
and  valuable  of  metals,  are  comparatively  corruptible  things. 
It  was  "  the  precious  blood  of  Christ."  This  lifted  the  incum- 
brance from  the  forfeited  inheritance,  overthrew  the  house 
of  bondage,  broke  the  strength  of  the  law  and  the  head  of 
the  dragon,  and  went  forth  in  much  assurance  and  in  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  in  power,  to  subdue  the  people  under  him,  lifted 
him  up  above  the  stars  and  made  him  as  mediatory  Lord  over 
thrones,  and  dominions,  and  principalities,  and  powers.  In 
a  word,  the  death  of  Christ  is  the  comprehensive  and  sole 
efficiency  in  the  work  of  redemption. 

Thus,  it  is  clearly  an  error,  and  one  of  no  ordinary  dimen- 
sions to  limit  the  atonement  to  the  bare  possibility  and  the 
consistent  exercise  of  pardon.  "  Christ  is  made  of  God  unto 
us  wisdom  and  righteousness  and  sanctification  and  redemp- 
tion." "  He  is  the  author  and  finisher  of  faith."  His  atone- 
ment procured  the  dispensation  of  the  spirit  and  purchases 
and  conveys  every  blessing  to  the  redeemed.  It  compre- 
hends their  calling  and  perseverance,  thek  faith  and  righte- 
ousness, their  resurrection  and  glory. 

As  it  is  the  source  of  all  good  to  the  redeemed  from  the 
original  purpose  in  the  Lamb  slain  from  before-  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  down  to  the  last  drop  of  dew  that  falls  to  cool 
the  fevered  lip  of  the  weary  pilgrim  in  his  way,  and  upward 
to  every  ray  which  he  sheds  among  the  stars  forever  and 
ever:  So  it  also  comprehends  every  one  among  all  the  re- 
deemed. It  sroes  backward  to  the  fall  and  onward  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  It  opens  its  fountain  in  the  house  of  David,, 
for  sin  and  uncleanness,  but  that  sweet  river  which  make& 
glad  the  city  of  God,  cannot  be  confined  to  Judea  alms. — 
It  breaks  over  that  narrow  boundaxv  and  fkr$r&  (MUJ, 


84        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

widening  and  widening  until  it  reaches  the  utmost  bounds 
of  the  everlasting  hills.  "  Rejoice,  thou  barren  that  barest 
not,  break  forth  and  cry  thou  that  travailest  not,  for  the  deso- 
late hath  many  more  children  than  she  that  hath  an  husband." 
It  was  the  cross  that  broke  down  the  middle  wall  of  par- 
tition between  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  slew  the  enmity.  But 
the  barriers  of  earth  and  time  are  too  narrow  for  its  ultimate 
range  and  mighty  development.  It  breaks  over  them  and 
pours  an  ocean  of  blessedness  around  the  Father's  throne, 
and  upon  the  bosom  of  eternity.  And  as  it  is  the  living  cen- 
tre and  source  of  all  good  to  the  redeemed,  so  its  memorials 
meet  us  every  where.  When  we  leave  this  world  and 
enter  upon  the  heavenly  state,  by  faith,  we  are  permitted, 
even  here,  to  gaze  upon  those  memorials  amid  the  abundant 
revelations  which  present  them.  There  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne,  in  the  central  point  of  dignity  and  glory,  visible  every 
where,  the  grand  object  of  wonder,  love  and  praise  is  a  lamb 
as  it  had  been  slain,  wearing  the  memorials  of  his  sacrifice 
and  carrying  every  recollection  back  to  the  price  of  redemp- 
tion. The  melodies  which  are  always  sweetest  and  which 
forever  return  upon  the  delighted  ear,  are  gathered  from  the 
garden  and  the  cross.  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb,  for  he  was 
slain,  and  hath  redeemed  us  to  God  by  his  blood."  A 
mighty  host  are  seen  advancing  over  the  plains  of  Paradise, 
with  crowns  on  their  heads  and  palms  in  their  hands ;  and  in 
in  answer  to  the  inquiry,  '*  Who  are  these  arrayed  in  white 
robes,  and  whence  come  they!"  responsive  choirs  reply. 
"  These  are  they  who  have  come  up  out  of  deep  tribulation. 
and  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb."  There  is  there  a  pure  river  of  the  water 
of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  flowing  and  sparkling  from  the  eternal 
throne.  We  go  back  upon  its  source  and  trace  it  downward 
to  this  world  and  backward  along  the  track  of  centuries  till 
we  reach  again  the  garden  and  the  cross ;  here  were  opened 
its  healing  fountains  and  from  hence  they  flow  and  cheer  and 


THE    ATONEMENT.  85 

refresh  forever.  Between  the  terrace  walk  and  that  river 
on  a  plat  of  perrenial  verdure  stands  there  the  tree  of  life. 
The  flaming  sword  of  the  cherubim  who  guarded  it,  that 
waved  forever  there,  and  warned  us  back  from  its  blessed 
vicinity,  was  quenched  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  It  awoke 
against  the  shepherd  and  the  man  that  was  the  fellow  of  the 
Father's  throne.  It  awoke  to  consume  its  fire  and  to  smite 
for  the  last  time :  henceforth  that  tree  is  forever  accessible 
to  the  redeemed  :  its  leaves  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
There,  too,  all  tears  are  wiped  from  all  faces :  the  soft  hand 
extended  in  that  act  of  availing  pity,  wears  a  scar  ;  it  was 
nailed  to  the  cross  for  our  sins. 

And  as  its  memorials  meet  us  every  where,  so  the  inheri- 
tance purchased  by  it,  shall  last  forever.  The  kingdom  of 
providence  extending  over  the  angels  who  never  sinned,  is 
not  mediatorial,  and,  therefore,  sheds  and  perpetuates  its 
blessings  directly  upon  the  innocent ;  but  the  mediatorial 
kingdom  rests  upon  the  sacrifice  of  Christ:  "the  government 
shall  be  upon  his  shoulders."  "  I,  saith  he,  bear  up  the  pillars 
of  it."  These  pillars  rest  upon  Mount  Calvary,  and  are 
strong  to  sustain  his  heritage,  because  they  are  moistened 
forever  with  the  sacrifice  of  life.  Hence,  this  kingdom  shall 
never  be  destroyed.  Because  he  lives,  we  shall  live  also  ; 
i.  e.  because  he  lives  as  the  Lord  of  life,  in  virtue  of  his  being 
the  master  and  the  destroyer  of  death,  when  he  vacated  its 
throne,  and  burst  its  cerements  and  terminated  its  gloomy 
reign  ;  therefore  we  shall  live  also.  On  this  foundation  the 
church  rests.  It  is  the  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire,  on 
which  the  ransomed  are  gathered.  If  it  were  taken  away, 
the  church  would  be  instantly  destroyed  ;  but  the  angels 
who  never  sinned  would  remain  uninjured.  They  stand 
upon  the  merits  of  their  own  obedience,  the  saints  upon  the 
merits  of  Christ's  obedience,  and  as  he  ever  lives  to  make 
intercession,  so  his  kingdom  can  never  be  destroyed.  War 
and  famine  and  pestilence  may  spread  their  ravages  over 


86        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

•whole  countries;  and  voices,  and  thunderings,  and  lightnings, 
and  great  hail,  may  carry  disaster  every  where,  and  fill  whole 
kingdoms  with  lamentation,  and  mourning,  and  woe  ;  yea, 
the  sun  may  forget  to  shine,  the  earth  forget  to  roll,  the 
shock  of  death  smite  the  centre  of  harmony  and  motion  in 
the  planetary  system,  and  shake  down  the  stars,  and  bury 
the  material  universe  in  the  oblivious  deep,  from  whence  it 
originated  ;  but  no  such  disasters  shall  ever  reach  the  king- 
dom of  the  Messiah.  It  is  the  bright  spot  in  the  centre  of 
immensity  and  eternity,  lifted  up  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
ruin  that  has  marred  the  bowers  of  Eden,  the  temple  of 
Zion,  and  the  principalities  in  the  heavenly  places  that  kept 
not  their  first  estate.  Over  it  no  cloud  ever  gathers,  no 
thunder  ever  rolls;  in  it  there  is  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow 
nor  crying  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away. 

Thus  we  collect  our  testimony  from  prophets  and  apostles, 
from  earth  and  heaven,  against  this  restriction  of  the  atone- 
ment to  the  mere  permit  to  exercise  pardon  on  the  ground 
of  divine  sovereignty.  This  attenuated  theory  is  not  the 
atonement.  It  does  not  lift  up  the  shadow  of  its  palm  upon 
the  churches.  It  begins  with  spreading  a  robe  over  the 
whole  world  and  ends  with  drawing  its  wasted  shreds 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle.  This  side  of  naked  Unitarian- 
ism,  there  is  no  system  more  bald  and  meagre,  more  strait- 
ened and  forbidding.  Dr.  Hodge  characterizes  it  as  "  the 
parings  of  our  system."  It  is  singular  that  it  should  ever 
pass  off  for  any  thing  more  among  Presbyterians.  Yet  still  it 
has  passed  for  more  ;  for  the  gospel  itself,  and  for  the  gospel 
entire.  It  has  s\s  ept  away  the  true  theology  and  occupied 
its  place  with  a  famine  of  the  bread  of  life.  Like  the  lean  kine, 
it  has  devoured  the  fat  and  well  favored,  and  left  us  noth- 
ing but  its  own  shadowy  and  hunger-bitten  carcass. 

Can  it  be  said,  that  the  atonement  "does  not  of  itself  save 
a  single  soul  V  The  statement  is  a  libel  on  the  sacerdotal 
power  and  glory  of  him  "who  hath  redeemed  us  to  God  by  his 


THE    ATONEMENT.  87 

blood."  Can  it  be  said  that  "all  the  atonement  has  effected  for 
the  sinner,  is  to  place  him  within  the  reach  of  pardon."  "  It 
perfects  forever  by  one  offering  all  them  that  are  sanctified." 

To  say,  that  "  commutative  justice  was  not  satisfied,  that 
the  atonement  paid  no  debt,"  is  an  error.  Christ  paid  our  debt 
of  active  obedience  by  his  own,  "  by  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  many  be  made  righteous,"  bought  us  with  his  blood, 
"  redeemed  us  to  God  by  his  blood,"  and  delivered  us  from 
the  debtor  s  poverty  and  from  the  debtor's  prison.  His  blood 
has  an  appreciable  value.  It  is  heaven's  high  currency,  is 
weighed  in  the  balances  of  the  sanctuary  there,  and  its  value 
cannot  be  gainsayed  or  made  void.  Foul  indeed,  must  be  the 
robe  which  has  not  been  '-washed  and  made  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb ;"  and  poor  and  naked  and  ruined,  the 
soul  not  invested  with  it.  "  Friend,  how  earnest  thou  in  hither 
not  having  on  a  wedding  garment  V 

To  say  that  distributive  justice  is  not  satisfied,  is  an  error. 
The  atonement  is  both  distributive  and  commutative.  It  is 
distributed  to  every  one  that  believeth.  The  death  that  Jesus 
tasted  was  for  every  son.  Faith  appropriates  him  "  as  our 
Lord  Jesus  Chrisl,"  "made  sin  for  us"  The  atonement  was 
made  for  men,  as  individuals,  and  ends  the  demands  of  a  law 
which  distributes  to  every  man  according  to  his  works,  by 
distributing  to  him  that  very  righteousness,  demanded  by  the 
law.  There  is  therefore,  now  no  condemnation  to  them 
who  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  for  in  him  God  hath  condemned  sin 
in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might  be  ful- 
filled in  us.  Rom.  8.  And  as  it  is  not  made  for  some  gen- 
eral distant  metaphysical  purpose,  lying  without  the  bounds 
of  individual  wants,  and  human  sympathies,  so  all  the  saved 
must  share  as  individuals  in  the  gracious  distribution.  The 
ministerial  commission  authorizes  us  to  say  to  each  man,  "  he 
that  believeth  shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall 
be  damned." 

That  "the  penalty  of  the  law,  strictly  speaking,  was  not 


88       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

inflicted  at  all,"  is  also  incorrect.  "  Christ  hath  redeemed  us 
from  the  curse  of  the  law  being  made  a  curse  for  us."  He 
satisfied  the  moral  and  ceremonial  law  and  every  kind  of  jus- 
tice. There  is  no  ingredient  which  can  possibly  enter  into  the 
nature  of  justice  which  he  did  not  honor  and  satisfy.  "  The 
Lord  is  well  pleased  for  his  righteousness'  sake,  he  will  mag- 
nify the  law  and  make  it  honorable."  Isa.  xlii.  21. 

That  the  death  of  patriots  and  martyrs  vindicates  the  main 
principle  of  atonement,  is  also  erroneous.     There  are  analo- 
gies, but  they  are  found  pre-eminently  in  the  sacrifices  of  the 
Levitical  law  ;    under  that  law,  the  innocent  and  the  guilty 
changed  places  and  responsibilities,  but  these  analogies  strictly 
speaking,  are  not  found  in  the  whole  history  of  friendship  and 
patriotism  and  paternal  love.     Here  we  find  self-denial,  but 
self-denial  is  not  "  the  main  principle  of  atonement,"  or  any 
principle  of  it.     True  it  is,  that  Christ  denied  himself  and  it  is 
equally  so,   that  he  was  born  and  that  he  was  crucified  ; 
and  all  this  is  likewise  true  of  Peter,  but  was  Peter  crucified 
for  us,  or  did  he  carry  out  a  single  principle  of  the  atonement 
in  his  life  or  death  1  Surely  not;   he  was  a  mere  martyr. — 
But  God  sent  forth  his  Son  made  of  a  woman,  and  made 
under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law  ; 
and  therefore  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  self-denial  of  his  weary 
life  and  the  agonies  of  the  garden  and  of  the  cross,  were  all 
of  the  nature  of  atonement.     If  his  humiliation  had  not  been 
on  "legal  principles,"  it  would  not  have  partaken  at  all  of 
the  nature  of  atonement :    he  could  not  have  redeemed  us 
from  the  curse  of  the  law,  except  as  he  was  placed  under 
it  in  our  stead,  and  except,  as  his  sufferings  comprehended 
in  them  the  curse  of  our  sins.    Aside  from  this  fact,  no  suffer- 
ings of  friends,  patriots  and  martyrs  can  be  said  to  partake 
of  the  nature  of  atonement,  in  the  least  degree.     Where  the 
law  and  justice  of  God  are  not  somehow  positively  and  truly 
satisfied  there  is  no  atonement.     Christ  hath  suffered  on  legal 
principles,  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  be- 


THE    ATONEMENT.  89 

ing  made  a  curse  for  us,  and  hath  thereby  exhibited  and  vin- 
dicated the  entire  principle  of  atonement,  so  that  through  the 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant  we  are  made  perfect  to  do 
his  will.  I  conclude,  therefore,  that  men  who  attempt  to 
show  -how  little  Christ  has  done,  and  who  speak  of  his  work 
in  the  most  depreciating  manner,  ought  not  to  be  regarded 
as  being  the  great  and  almost  only  advocates  of  a  full  and 
sufficient  propitiatory  sacrifice. 

That  though,  like  the  Unitarians,  they  attempt  to  hide 
their  weakness  by  multiplying  the  consequences  of  the 
atonement  in  its  fine  impressions  and  grand  results,  yet  so 
long  as  they  deny  that  it  includes  in  it  an  actual  satisfaction 
to  law  and  justice,  and  the  actual  and  necessary  redemption 
of  every  heir  of  glory,  and  maintain  that  the  atonement 
cancels  no  demand,  even  for  one  man,  nor  saves  a  single 
soul,  they  do  not  relieve  their  system  from  the  full  and 
crushing  weight  of  all  the  objections  that  fall  upon  it. 

Great  consequences  grew  out  of  the  discovery  of  Moses 
by  Pharaoh's  daughter ;  and  great  consequences  grew  out 
of  the  sale  of  Joseph  into  Egypt;  and  also  out  of  the 
treachery  of  Judas ;  yea,  all  events  reach  onward  forever. 
As  the  motion  of  a  finger  vibrates  along  the  whole  atmos- 
phere, so  the  most  insignificant  event  may  be  felt  far  beyond 
the  stars.  But  we  are  to  do  in  this  matter  with  the  great 
and  comprehensive  fact  of  atonement,  not  alone  with  its 
incidental  results.  Did  Christ  die  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  Scriptures,  and  did  he,  by  one  offering,  perfect  forever 
all  them  that  are  sanctified?  Are  believers  really  redeemed 
from  the  curse  of  the  law  by  Jesus  Christ,  or  are  they  still 
under  it  ?  Is  the  law  satisfied,  or  are  its  claims  simply  sus- 
pended by  an  act  of  divine  sovereignty?  These  are  the 
questions  at  issue  ;  and  so  long  as  the  New  School  deny  that 
Christ  obeyed  unto  death,  as  the  legal  representative  of  his 
people,  so  long  their  system  must  be  regarded  as  substantially 
Unitarian. 


90  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  atonement  destroys  no  man.  As  the  ark,  which  was 
a  type  of  it,  was  made  to  save,  and  drowned  no  one,  so 
Christ  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them ; 
to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  Let  the  sinner  flee  to  him :  his 
sacrifice  was  not  made  to  exclude,  but  to  save  men.  It  is 
not  a  rule,  but  a  remedy.  If  you  are  lost,  it  will  be  by  your 
own  fault.  This  is  their  condemnation,  that  light  is  come 
into  the  world,  and  men  have  loved  darkness  rather  than 
light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil. 

That  the  New  School  believe  in  the  fullness  of  the  atone- 
ment, and  that  the  Old  School  do  not,  is  to  me  a  most  singu- 
lar misrepresentation.  It  is  a  great  mistake  :  it  completely 
changes  the  position  of  parties,  and  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  it  could  ever  gain  currency  in  the  Churches.  Yet 
so  it  is :  the  very  men  who  believe  that  Christ  died  sufh- 
ciently  for  all  men,  and  distributively  and  effectually  for  the 
elect  alone,  are  represented  as  denying  the  fullness  of  the 
atonement. 

While  those  who  do  not  believe  that  the  atonement  has 
any  distributive  relation  whatever,  or  that  "distributive 
justice  is  satisfied  at  all  by  it;"  "that  it  does  not  consist  in 
canceling  the  demand  [even]  for  one  man,"  or,  "in  itself 
save  a  single  soul,"  are  represented  as  believing  in  the  full- 
ness of  the  atonement :  that  Christ  died  for  all  men. 

It  is  highly  probable,  however,  that  the  false  impression 
has  been  created  by  an  improper  use  of  terms  in  the  contro- 
versy. The  word  extent  has  been  used  instead  of  the  word 
indefinite.  The  latter  term  being  the  one  which  most  exactly 
describes  the  New  School  opinions.  They  do  not  extend 
the  atonement  in  its  provisions,  in  the  least  degree  beyond 
the  bare  possibility  of  pardon.  "It  rendered  it  not  improper 
for  the  law-giver  to  pardon  the  transgressor."  "  It  merely 
prepared  the  way  for  the  proclamation  of  mercy."  "It 
merely  rendered  pardon  compatible."  "It  canceled  no  de- 
mand for  one  man,  or  all  men."      "  It  does  not  in  itself  save  a 


THE    ATONEMENT.  91 

single  soul :  it  barely  opens  the  door  for  the  accomplishment 
of  this  object."  Here  is  the  boundary  line ;  beyond  this  it  does 
not  extend.  It  does  not  reach  (to  use  the  catch  phrases  of 
the  New  Divinity)  commutative  or  distributive  justice,  or  the 
penalty  of  the  law,  or  an  individual  soul.  Restricted  by  its 
very  nature,  it  is  bound  within  narrow  limits,  by  a  law  of 
necessity.  "  Oh,  ye  Corinthians,  ye  are  not  straitened  in  us  : 
but  ye  are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels." 

"  There  is  a  third  sense  in  which  the  term  justice  is  fre- 
quently used,  and  the  consideration  of  which  will  lead  us 
directly  to  the  nature  of  that  satisfaction  which  Jesus  Christ 
has  made  for  sinners.  We  mean  what  is  commonly  denom- 
inated general  or  public  justice.  In  order  to  distinguish  it 
both  from  pecuniary  and  legal  justice,  it  has  been  called 
moral  justice.  In  this  acceptation  it  has  no  direct  reference 
to  law,  but  embraces  those  principles  of  virtue  or  benevo- 
lence by  which  we  are  bound  to  govern  our  conduct,  and  by 
which  God  himself  governs  the  universe."  (Beman  on 
Atonement,  p.  132.)  The  satisfaction  of  Christ,  according 
to  this  account  of  it,  propitiates  general  or  public  justice ; 
not  pecuniary  or  legal  justice,  but  moral  justice ;  not  a 
justice  that  has  any  direct  reference  to  law,  but  it  embraces 
the  principles  of  virtue  or  general  benevolence.  Here, 
then,  we  are  brought  to  an  abyss,  without  form  and  void, 
where  all  correct  distinctions  are  abandoned  and  confounded, 
where  justice  is  made  benevolence,  and  the  atonement  its 
manifestation,  —  where  metaphysical  fallacies  gather  their 
mists,  and  all  that  is  substantial  in  the  satisfaction  of  Christ 
vanishes  into  air. 

The  New  School,  then,  do  not  extend  the  atonement : 
they  limit  and  destroy  it.  Their  general  justice,  which  their 
atonement  satisfies,  has  no  existence,  because  no  general 
person  exists  to  whom  it  can  belong,  or  toward  whom  it 
could  be  exercised.  Justice  is  an  attribute  of  God,  every 
way  definite  and  infinite  ;  and  the  law  is  an  institution  which 


92        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

it  creates   and  maintains,  as  it  distributes   to   every  man 
according  to  his  works. 

We  are  not  bound  to  govern  our  conduct  by  some  indefi- 
nite principles  of  benevolence,  for  there  are  no  such  prin- 
ciples ;  by  the  love  of  being  in  general,  for  there  can  be  no 
such  being  to  love ;  but  by  the  law  of  God,  from  whose 
terrific  curse  we  are  delivered  by  a  life  of  faith.  The  whole 
theory  of  disinterested  benevolence,  of  general  justice,  and 
the  love  of  being  in  general,  is  mere  theory :  it  has  amused 
and  bewildered  long  enough.  Its  very  friends  begin  to  shun 
it,  as  one  that  is  "  waxen  poor,  and  fallen  into  decay."  To 
say  that  the  Redeemer  satisfied  its  claims,  is  to  say  that  he 
satisfied  no  claims  whatever.  It  is  not  only  to  limit  the 
atonement  to  a  most  insignificant  point,  to  take  away  all 
that  is  full  and  definite  and  substantial  in  it,  but  to  destroy  it 
altogether. 

When,  therefore,  the  discussion  originates  between  us 
and  our  opponents  on  the  passage  in  Hebrews,  "  that  he  by 
the  grace  of  God  should  taste  death  for  every  man,"  (Heb. 
ii.  9,)  and  on  other  similar  passages,  it  is  not  a  question  as  to 
the  fullness  of  the  atonement,  but  as  to  its  definiteness,  which 
is  in  debate.  They  contend  for  a  meaning  so  universal  as 
to  include  the  whole  race  numerically,  to  show  that  Christ 
died  as  fully  and  as  intentionally  for  Judas  as  for  Paul ;  that 
his  death  relates  as  much  to  one  man  as  to  another ;  and 
that,  therefore,  it  can  have  no  definite  relation  to  any  man, 
because  that  view  would  result  in  Universalism :  and  that 
hence  it  was  not  a  satisfaction  "  for  one  man  or  all  men," 
but  rather  a  manifestation  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  an  impres- 
sion in  favor  of  virtue,  or  a  governmental  expedient. 

We,  on  the  contrary,  maintain  that  the  death  of  Christ 
was  not  a  vague  and  indefinite  transaction,  but  that  it  was 
endured  for  individual  men,  —  includes  in  it  the  proper  pun- 
ishment of  their  sins,  and  includes  in  it  also  their  inevi- 
table  redemption.     Hence,  it  is  that  the  New   School,  in 


THE    ATOxNEMENT.  93 

contending  for  a  general  atonement,  array  themselves  against 
those  passages  which  declare  it  to  be  personal,  distributive 
and  efficient ;  and  we  are  found,  on  the  contrary,  defending 
their  plain  and  obvious  meaning.  "  I  lay  down  my  life  for 
the  sheep"  Christ  "loved  the  Church,  and  gave  himself  for 
it;"  was  "made  sin  for  us;  was  delivered  for  imr  offences ;" 
"  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being  made  a 
curse  for  us;"  "is  the  end  of  the  law  to  every  one  that 
that  believeth."  The  Scriptures  abound  in  passages  of  this 
kind,  in  which  Christ  is  represented  to  have  died  for  men,  for 
us,  for  the  Church;  but  I  can  find  no  passage  in  which  it  is 
said  that  his  atonement  does  not  of  itself  save  a  single  soul, 
but  that  it  barely  opens  a  door  to  a  possible  pardon.  That  it 
opens  such  a  door,  we  do  not  doubt.  But  this  is  not  all 
which  it  effects ;  and  the  Scriptures  no  where  countenance 
this  restrictive  and  depreciating  language  to  which  the  jNew 
School  are  obliged  to  resort  in  self-defence. 

They  also  array  themselves  against  all  those  Scripture 
testimonies  which  affirm  that  Christ  suffered  penally  for  us, 
and  that  justification  is  on  legal  principles.  The  text, 
"Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  being 
made  a  curse  for  us,"  is  a  passage  much  in  their  way, 
because  it  states  what  Christ  did  in  particular,  beyond  the 
bare  opening  of  a  door  of  hope  in  a  general  or  indefinite  way. 
That  over  and  above  this,  he  suffered  penally  and  definitely 
for  us,  and  that  his  sufferings  were  on  legal  principles, — 
were  the  curse  of  the  law, — were  an  actual,  an  effectual,  a 
completed  redemption,  —  a  redemption  finished  already  by 
promise  and  by  price, — and  hence  placed  in  its  blessed 
results  beyond  the  reach  of  every  possible  contingency. 
This  text,  therefore,  they  assail  and  torture,  "and  serve  it  as 
Saul  of  Tarsus  did  the  early  Christians ;  they  compel  it  to 
blaspheme."  And  for  the  same  reasons,  the  53d  chapter  of 
Isaiah  is  made  a  perfect  auto  dafe.  Here  a  whole  group  of 
witnesses  are  given  over  to  the  executioner.  All  the  sacrifices 


94        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

of  the  law  of  Moses,  —  all  the  significancies  of  the  priest- 
hood,—  all  those  passages  in  the  5th  of  Romans,  on  impu- 
tation, and  all  elsewhere  on  justification,  are  alike  doomed 
by  the  inquisitors. 

They  array  themselves  also  against  all  those  numerous 
passages  elsewhere  which  represent  Christ  as  a  Redeemer. 
and  his  blood  as  the  price  of  redemption,  by  which  he  lifted 
the  encumbrance  from  the  forfeited  patrimony,  and  by  virtue 
of  that  full  and  sufficient  price,  puts  every  one  of  his  impover- 
ished kinsmen  in  full  and  final  possession  of  their  share  in 
the  estate.  The  blood  of  Christ  is  represented  as  a  currency 
under  the  divine,  as  silver  and  gold  are  under  the  civil  law. 
We  are  redeemed  not  with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and 
gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  But  though 
the  passages  are  very  numerous,  both  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  in  which  Christ  the  great  Redeemer  is  repre- 
sented as  thus  purchasing  a  possession,  redeeming  his  peo- 
ple, and  as  having  already  paid  the  full  priee  of  their 
redemption  on  the  cross.  Yet  they  must  all  be  assailed  in 
like  manner  with  the  others,  and  it  must  be  maintained 
that  "  the  atonement  paid  no  debt,  canceled  no  demand  for 
one  man  or  all  men,"  because,  to  admit  it,  would  be  to 
admit  that  Christ's  death  and  precious  blood-shedding  has 
an  inevitable  efficiency  in  the  salvation  of  his  people ;  that 
it  not  only  opened  the  door  to  pardonr  but  that  it  adminis- 
ters it,  and  justifies  the  soul,  and  opens  the  heart  to  receive 
Christ,  and  the  grave  to  liberate  the  dead  bodies  of  his 
saints,  and  the  gate  of  glory  to  his  ransomed  people. — 
And  as  this  would  make  too  much  of  the  atonement,  so 
it  becomes  necessary  to  show  that  "  the  atonement  paid 
no  debt,  canceled  no.  demand.'1  That  to  maintain  such 
a  view  of  the  subject  would  be  quite  profane.  "  The  august 
business  which  involved  the  honor  of  the  divine  government, 
the  death  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  redemption  of  im- 
mortal man,  is  degraded  to.  the  level  of  a  pecuniary  transact- 


THE   ATOMEMENT.  95 

ion,  is  brought  down  to  a  mere  matter  of  debt  and  credit. 
The  declaration  ought  to  be  repeated,  and  the  truth  con- 
tained in  it  never  forgotten,  that  commutative  justice  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  affair."  (Beman  on  Atonement,  p. 
129.)  Thus  they  fall  upon  the  witnesses  and  attempt  to  slay 
them  one  by  one. 

But  is  it  degrading  to  represent  the  atonement  as  paying 
a  debt,  when  the  Holy  Ghost  leads  the  way  in  the  represen- 
tation. And  why  cannot  justice  have  debts  of  one  kind  as 
well  as  of  another  1  if  pecuniary  claims  are  of  the  lower  kind, 
that  does  not  prove  that  there  are  no  higher  claims,  which  are 
as  really  demanded  by  justice  to  be  liquidated  as  those  claims 
that  fix  simply  upon  our  silver  and  gold.  If  a  man  sold  into 
slavery  could  be  redeemed  by  gold,  as  the  valuable  consider- 
ation under  the  Jewish  lawr  so  may  we  be  redeemed  from 
bondage  under  the  moral  law,  by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ 
which  is  the  valuable  consideration  paid  for  our  ransom.  I 
can  see  nothing  degrading  to  God  in  this  plain  account  given 
in  the  Scriptures  of  our  redemption.  There  are  surely  other 
equivalents  besides  money.  An  eye  may  be  taken  for  an  eye, 
and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  as  truly  as  one  dollar  for  another. 
And  there  may  be  a  debt  for  which  no  ransom  short  of  blood 
shall  be  received.  Thou  shak  take  no  ransom  for  the  mur- 
derers life.  For  whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed. 

Our  lives  were  in  this  manner  forfeited  under  the  divine 
law.  The  inquiry  had  been  made  by  the  prisoners,  "where- 
withal shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow  myself  before 
the  high  God,  shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt  offerings, 
with  calves  of  a  year  old,  will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thous- 
ands of  rams  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil!  shall  I  give 
my  first  born  for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for 
the  sin  of  my  soull"  Micah.  vi.  7,  8.  But  alas  the  price  of 
redemption  required  by  the  law  was  greater  than  all  these. 
It  was  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  GocL    No  other  could,  deliver. 


96        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

could  redeem  his  brother,  or  give  to  God  a  ransom  for  him, 
no  price  less  in  value  'than  this  would  suffice. 

If  the  reader  will  carefully  attend  to  the  above  passages 
in  the  word  of  God,  and  to  the  views  of  the  two  parties  res- 
pecting their  meaning,  he  will  not  fail  to  see  that  the  nature 
of  the  atonement  is  the  real  point  in  debate.  If  we  say 
Christ  died  to  save  men.  They  reply,  he  died  to  make  sal- 
vation possible.  If  we  say,  he  suffered  the  punishment  due 
to  our  sins,  they  reply,  he  suffered  no  punishment  at  all. — 
If  we  say,  he  bought  us  with  his  blood  and  paid  the  price  of 
our  redemption  ;  this  in  their  view  degrades  the  atonement 
to  the  level  of  a  pecuniary  transaction.  Indeed,  so  soon  as 
we  attempt  to  pass  their  open  door — their  bare  possibility  of 
pardon  views — and  begin  to  represent  the  Son  as  shedding 
forth  the  grace  of  effectual  calling  and  final  perseverance — 
as  distributing  the  clean  white  linen,  which  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  saints;  as  purchasing  and  communicating  a  full  and 
certain  redemption,  we  at  once  encounter  our  New  School 
brethren  and  find  ourselves  in  the  wide  open  field  of  debate 
and  controversy.  According  to  them,  the  atonement  has  no 
intrinsic  efficiency  whatever  in  our  salvation.  According  to 
us  it  comprehends  in  it  every  particular  in  the  entire  redemp- 
tion of  the  Church.  The  one  offering  not  only  opens  the 
door  but  also  perfects  forever  all  them  that  are  sanctified. 
All  for  whom  Christ  shed  his  blood  upon  the  cross  as  the 
efficient  price  of  their  redemption  shall  in  the  dispensation  of 
the  fullness  of  time,  wash  their  robes  and  make  them  white 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  None  of  them  shall  be  found 
among  the  damned  ;  no  one  in  that  dark  world  of  horror 
and  despair,  will  ever  claim  that  he  was  redeemed  to  God  by 
the  blood  of  Christ.  His  people  shall  never  perish.  Go,  at 
the  final  consummation  of  all  things  into  heaven,  take  up  the 
book  of  life  and  read  aloud  every  name  which  was  contained 
on  that  vast  muster  roll  of  the  Kins:  of  Kin^s,  "  ere  sin  was 
born,  or  Adam's  dust  was  fashioned  to  a  man,"  and  none  of 


THE    ATONEMENT.  97 

his  redeemed  shall  fail  to  respond,  He  calleth  his  own  sheep 
by  name,  he  knoweth  them  that  are  his  ;  he  shall  see  the 
travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be  satisfied  ;  by  his  knowledge 
shall  my  righteous  servant  justify  many,  for  he  shall  bear 
their  iniquity." 

The  death  of  Christ  comprehends  in  it  absolutely  all  the 
redeemed,  whether  believers  or  not,  whether  already  brought 
or  of  those  he  must  yet  bring,  John  x.  16  ;  whether  the  much 
people  he  has  in  the  city  are  already  penitent  or  are  still  his 
enemies,   Acts  xviii.   10  ;  whether  already  believers  or  of 
those  who  shall  believe  through  the  preached  word.     He 
hath  loved  them  all  with  an  everlasting  love.  John  xvii.  20. 
The  relationship  has  already  been  begun,  by  the  susception 
on  the  part  of  the  redeemer,  of  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the 
children,  with  the  full  purpose  of  consumating  the  union  thus 
established,  by  the  inhabitation  of  his  spirit,  by  imputing  to 
them  his  righteousness,  and  by  imparting  to  them  his  holiness; 
so  that  each  one  shall  personally  know  the  blessedness  of  that 
man,  whose  iniquities  are  forgiven,  whose  sins  are  covered. 
Not  that  the  atonement,  because  thus  distributed  is  there- 
fore divided  into  parts,  so  much  being  appropriated  to  one, 
and  so  much  to  another,  but  each  one  needs  a  full  atonement 
for  himself,  and  has  it  all,  and  leaves  it  all  to  every  other  to 
be  forever  appropriated,  and  for  ever  used,  and  to  remain 
forever  undiminished  and  unchanged.     As  the  light  of  day 
is  appropriated  by  all,  and  remains  to  all  the  same,  so  Christ 
fills  his  own  blessed  kingdom,  with  his  own  "  gracious  full- 
ness, to  be  appropriated  by  each,  and  to  remain  all,  to  all.  with- 
out consumption  and  without  end. 

Our  differences  with  the  New  School  are  not  then  as  to 
the  extent,  but  as  to  the  fullness  and  definiteness  of  the  atone- 
ment as  a  comprehensive  and  effective  covenant  transaction, 
we  affirming,  they  denying,  we  making  it  a  full  redemption 
to  God  of  all  his  people — they  denying  "  that  of  itself  it  saves 
a  single  soul," — we  extending  it  to  every  particular  in  our 


98  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

redemption — they  restricting  it  to  a  solitary  point — we  mak- 
ing it  definite  and  personal  respecting  every  one  of  the  ran- 
somed— they  denying  its  personal  relation  to  any  man. 

When  therefore  they  contend  that  the  atonement  is  indefi- 
nitely extended,  we  must  understand  them  to  mean  that  it  is 
restricted  to  a  definite  and  single  point.  When  they  contend 
that  Christ  died  for  every  man,  we  must  understand  them  to 
mean  that  he  did  not  die  for  any  man  ;  when  they  maintain 
that  Christ  shed  the  blood  of  redemption  for  souls  in  hell,  as 
well  as  souls  in  heaven  ;  we  are  to  understand  that  they 
intend  to  say  hereby  that  his  blood  canceled  no  demand  and 
saves  no  soul  in  heaven,  earth  or  hell  ;  that  it  is  the  surety  of 
no  covenant,  but  that  our  Lord  died  to  satisfy  the  claims  of 
a  mental  abstraction,  called  general  justice. 

This  general  justice  is  not  the  justice  of  God  ;  for  his  jus- 
tice is  not  general  but  a  personal  attribute  inseparable  from 
his  very  nature,  and  definite  in  its  action  rendering  to  every 
man  according  to  his  works.  '"-General  justice  moreover 
has  no  direct  reference  to  law,"  for  legal  justice  is  likewise 
personal.  It  takes  hold  upon  the  individual  man  for  his  per- 
sonal delinquencies,  saying,  "  pay  me  that  thou  owest."  It 
curses  "  every  one"  that  "  continueth  not  in  all  things  which 
are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to  do  them."  Christ  there- 
fore, according  the  to  New  School,  died  to  satisfy  a  justice 
which  is  not  the  justice  of  God,  or  the  justice  of  his  law. 

To  what  being  this  public  or  general  justice  belongs,  or 
whether  to  any  being  whatever,  we  are  not  told,  as  it  is  a 
very  mysterious  thing,  living,  in  general  every  where,  but 
gaining  individuality  no  where  ;  being  neither  an  attribute  of 
God,  or  of  any  other  being,  or  belonging  to  any  known  law 
human  or  divine,  so  like  all  mysterious  things,  it  is  described 
by  negatives.  It  is  not  commutative  justice,  nor  distributive, 
it  is  not  the  justice  of  the  law,  it  has  no  direct  reference  to 
that ;  it  is  general  or  public  justice,  i.  e.  it  embraces  those 
general  principles  of  virtue  or  benevolence  by  which  we  are 


THE    ATONEMENT.  99> 

bound  to  regulate  our  conduct,  and  by  which  God  governs 
the  universe."  We  are  bound  to  regulate  our  conduct  by 
the  law  of  God  ;  as  it  is  written,  "  Do  we  make  void  the 
law  through  faith  1  God  forbid,  yea  we  establish  the  law." 
This  we  can  understand,  but  we  are  assured  that  this  general 
justice  has  no  direct  reference  to  law.  It  is  something  else 
distinct  from  every  thing  which  exists  in  God,  in  his  law,  or 
in  his  creatures,  and  this  mere  mental  abstraction  of  which 
we  can  gain  no  notion  and  of  which  no  one  ever  yet  had  a 
distinct  idea,  this  is  that  personified  nonentity  which  Christ 
died  to  satisfy  :  and  when  a  general  atonement  is  contended 
for,  this  is  what  we  are  to  understand  by  it,  viz  :  That  it  is 
indefinite  with  respect  to  the  justice  which  it  satisfies,  for 
that  is  so  indefinite,  no  one  can  tell  us  what  it  is,  indefinite. 
with  respect  to  men,  it  has  no  relation  to  any  man,  indefinite, 
with  respect  to  its  results,  it  secures  nothing,  saves  no  soul, 
opens  an  indefinite  door  of  hope, — throws  out  an  indefinite 
possibility  of  pardon  and  awakens  an  indefinite  feeling  of  stu- 
pid wonder  in  all  who  hear  of  it.  This  is  that  unsubstantial, 
unscriptural  view  of  the  atonement  against  which  we  do  most 
solemnly  bear  our  testimony. 

There  are  three  views  taken  of  the  death  of  Christ,  and 
these  in  reality  comprise  all  others. 

1.  The  Calvinistic  :  That  Christ  died  sufficiently  for 
all  men,  efficiently  for  the  elect  alone. 

2^  The  Universalist  :  That  He  died  sufficiently  and 
efficiently  for  all  men. 

3.  The  Unitarian:  Which  denies  either  sufficiency  or 
efficiency  to  the  death  of  Christ,  and  to  this  latter  belong  the 
New  School  views  of  the  subject.  In  common  with  the 
Unitarians,  they  deny  that  Christ's  obedience  was  vicarious, 
that  his  sufferings  were  penal,  or  that  his  death  has  in  itself 
any  efficiency  in  the  matter  of  our  redemption,  and  they 
maintain  that  man  is  not  justified  "by  the  righteousness  of 
another.,  of  God,  or  the  Messiah,"  but  by  faith  which  is  simply/ 


100  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

an  act  of  the  mind  "  or  a  right  heart,"  '  Here  are  all  the 
elements  essential  to  Unitarianism  but  one,  that  one  relates 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  in  every  other  essential  par- 
ticular, the  two  systems  are  strictly  coincident  and  truly 
identical. 

In  these  circumstances  the  controversy  between  Old  and 
New  School  Presbyterians  respecting  the  extent  of  the  atone- 
ment is  quite  absurd.  It  would  arise  legitimately  enough 
between  us  and  the  Universalists,  whether  such  passages  as 
state  that  Jesus  "  tasted  death  for  every  man,"  that  "  he  is 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins  and  not  for  our  ours  only  but 
for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,"  that  "  he  gave  himself  a 
ransom  for  all  to  be  testified  in  due  time,"  relate  to  a  uni- 
versal redemption  of  the  human  race,  or  whether  they  fairly 
admit  of  a  different  interpretation,  but  as  between  us  and  the 
New  School,  there  can  be  no  ground  for  debate  respecting 
the  extent  of  the  atonement,  our  differences  with  them  re- 
spect not  its  extent  at  all,  but  its  nature  and  reality.  Even 
our  controversy  with  the  old  fashioned  Hopkinsians,  who 
hold  a  general  atonement  and  a  particular  redemption,  does 
not,  strictly  speaking,  relate  to  the  extent  of  the  atonement, 
or  to  the  fullness  and  sufficiency  of  the  death  of  Christ  as  an 
effective  purchase,  but  to  the  correctness  of  the  distinction 
which  they  take  between  atonement  and  redemption.  Our 
differences  with  all,  then,  on  the  atonement,  except  with  the 
Universalists  must  relate  not  to  its  extent,  but  to  its  nature 
and  reality.  All,  with  this  exception,  limit  the  atonement  in 
its  saving  benefits,  to  a  part  of  the  human  race,  as  truly  as  we 
ourselves  do,  and  hence  I  regard  the  time  spent  in  discussing 
the  question  on  the  extent  of  the  atonement  with  New  School 
Presbyterians  as  time  wasted  on  a  false  issue.  We  are  called 
upon  in  this  discussion,  to  defend  the  very  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment itself,  for  this  it  is,  which  is  assailed  in  its  essential 
nature  and  its  very  existence  wholly  destroyed  by  the  new 
divinity. 


THE   ATONEMENT,  101 

But  if  Christ  died  sufficiently  for  all  men  and  efficiently  for 
the  elect  alone,  would  not  the  nonelect  believe  a  lie  were 
they  to  believe  that  Christ  died  to  save  them  ]  How  then 
can  you  consistently  call  upon  all  men  to  believe  on  Christ  1 
The  reply  is  obvious.  The  first  act  of  faith  has  respect  to 
the  sufficiency  of  the  atonement  to  save  the  chief  of  sinners 
and  whoever  finds  himself  to  be  such  is  required  to  believe  on 
Christ  as  the  only  Saviour  of  the  ruined  and  the  lost.  This 
Christ  Jesus  truly  is,  the  only  and  the  all  sufficient  Saviour  for 
the  cheif  of  sinners  :  and  no  lost  sinner  filled  with  remorse  and 
fear,  and  fleeing  to  Christ,  could  possibly  believe  a  lie,  were 
he  to  believe  it  with  his  whole  heart.  This  belief  moreover 
is  of  the  nature  of  saving  faith,  the  earliest  exercise  of  this 
grace,  and  is  the  very  thing  required  of  the  awakened  and 
convinced  sinner.  Grace  is  always  feeble  in  its  beginings, 
"  the  bruised  reed,"  "  the  smoking  flax,"  the  faintly  defined 
parting  line  between  daylight  and  darkness,  are  the  inspired 
illustrations  of  its  primary  actings  in  the  human  heart.  But 
when  Christ  shall  have  first  been  received,  by  one  who  thus 
esteems  himself  the  chief  of  sinners,  as  the  only  and  all  suffi- 
cient Saviour  of  such,  then  after  that  he  can  rise  to  higher 
acts  of  faith,  and  at  length  attain  unto  its  full  assurance. 

The  argument  of  poor  Joseph  as  related  by  Dr.  Calamy, 
was  the  incipient  demonstration  of  faith  in  its  first  struggles 
into  life.  Jesus  Christ  came  to  save  the  chief  of  sinners  ; 
poor  Joseph  is  the  chief  of  sinners,  therefore  Jesus  Christ  came 
to  save  poor  Joseph.  "  But  what  say  you  of  your  own  heart, 
Joseph]  Is  there  no  token  of  good  about  it?  No  saving 
change  there  1  Have  you  closed  with  Christ,  by  acting  faith 
upon  him  V*  "  Ah  no,"  says  he,  "  Joseph  can  act  nothing — 
Joseph  has  nothing  to  say  for  himself,  but  that  he  is  the  chief 
of  sinners  ;  yet,  seeing  that  it  is  a  'faithful  saying'  that  Jesus 
he  who  made  all  things,  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners, 
why  may  not  Joseph,  after  all,  be  saved  V9 

The  change  required  in  order  to  our  salvation  is  not  in  the 


#''* 


102  OLD    AND    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

nature  of  the  atonement  but  in  us.  If  by  the  spirit  of  God, 
we  are  led  to  renounce  our  own  righteousness,  and  from  a 
full  and  penitent  conviction  of  our  sin  and  misery,  do  trust  in 
Christ  alone  for  salvation,  we  shall  be  saved,  whoever  we 
maybe,  and  whatever  our  guilt.  "  Whosoever  shall  call 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved."  "  Though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  wool ;  red  like  crimson, 
they  shall  be  as  snow."  Whoever,  then,  in  the  whole 
world,  who  possesses  our  common  humanity,  and  perceives 
his  guilt  to  be  great,  his  depravity  total,  and  that  he  must 
perish,  without  Christ,  let  him  believe  on  him  without  hesi- 
tation ;  for  such  an  one  has  all  the  qualifications  of  the  pub- 
lican, and  him  our  Lord  holds  up  for  our  imitation.  Go, 
then,  having  these  prerequisites,  go  into  the  presence  of 
the  Master,  and  smite  upon  your  breast.  We  preach  Christ 
crucified,  "  to  the  Jews,  a  stumbling-block ;  to  the  Greeks, 
foolishness,  but  to  every  one  that  believeth,  the  power  of 
God  and  the  wisdom  of  God."  We  venture  on  him  as  an 
all-sufficient  Saviour.  If  all  the  sins  of  all  men  were  our 
own,  it  would  not  weaken  our  confidence  in  his  infinite 
ability,  or  if  we  had  ten  thousands  souls  to  save,  we  should 
want  no  other  arm  to  save  than  his  who  hung  upon  the  tree. 
Were  the  load  of  our  guilt  heavier  than  the  whole  universe 
of  material  things,  it  would  not  break  the  grasp  of  his  pity, 
or  pluck  us  from  the  hand  of  his  mediatorial  power  and 
grace. 

But  again :  It  is  objected,  that  we  are  inconsistent,  in 
making  an  indiscriminate  offer  of  salvation  to  all  men,  foras- 
much as  we  believe  that  the  atonement  is  so  perfectly 
discriminating,  personal  and  definite.  And  to  this  we  reply, 
that  we  never  make  an  offer  of  salvation  wholly  indiscrim- 
inate. It  is  indiscriminate  and  indefinite  with  respect  to  the 
nations,  communities  and  individuals  addressed  ;  but  it  is  in- 
variably and  sufficiently  discriminating  in  the  very  terms  in 
which  the  offer  is  conveyed:    "He  that  believeth  shall  be 


THE    ATONEMENT.  103 

saved."  The  offer  is  here  limited  by  the  faith  which  it  re- 
quires. u  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to 
every  one  that  believeth."  Here  again  the  terms  are  definite. 
"  Whosoever  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  sa- 
ved." Here  also  the  terms  of  the  offer  define  and  limit  it. 
The  offers  of  salvation  are  never  made  to  men  respected 
simply  as  unbelievers,  or  as  those  who  shall  remain  such,  but 
invariably  have  respect  to  the  grace  of  faith,  which  they  sup- 
pose or  require ;  and  they  are  in  no  instances  made  to  any 
man,  without  this  accompanying  limitation,  either  expressed 
or  implied.  Believe,  then,  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved. 

But  how  can  the  New  School  make  the  offer  of  salvation 
to  any  man,  since,  according  to  them,  he  did  not  die  for  any 
man,  but  for  some  other  purpose.  If  a  man  should  believe 
that  Christ  died  for  the  chief  of  sinners,  and,  therefore,  for 
him,  and  that,  because  he  finds  himself  to  be  the  chief  of 
sinners,  would  he  not,  then,  believe  a  lie,  since  Christ  did 
not  die  for  any  sinner,  as  such?  Would  he  not  believe  a 
lie,  were  he  to  believe  that  Christ  redeemed  him  from  the 
curse  of  the  law?  since,  "though  a  thousand  substitutes 
should  die,"  the  claims  of  the  law  could  never  be  invalidated ; 
and  since,  as  Christ  did  not  bear  the  curse  of  the  law,  so  he 
could  bring  no  one  out  from  under  it  1  If  the  sinner  were 
to  receive  Christ  as  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness 
to  every  one  that  believeth,  would  he  not  receive  an  impos- 
ter  to  his  arms ;  inasmuch  "as  the  sufferings  of  Christ  have 
no  direct  reference  to  law,  but  to  those  general  principles  of 
virtue  or  benevolence,"  which  are  the  attributes  of  no  being, 
and  belong  to  no  law,  human  or  divine  1 

How,  then,  can  the  New  School,  with  the  least  show  of 
consistency  or  propriety,  offer  the  atonement  distributively 
to  every  man,  since  distributive  justice  is  not  satisfied  by  it, 
and  since  it  was  not  made  for  man  as  an  individual,  and 
since  it  is  not  true,  that  Christ  tasted  death  "for  one  man, 


1Q4       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

or  all  men  ?"     There  can  be  no  truth  in  the  offer ;  for  he 
offers  to  a  sinner  an  atonement  not  made  for  him.      There 
can  be  no  sincerity  in  the  offer ;  for  he  knows,  when  he 
makes  it,  that  the  atonement  was  made  for  something  he 
calls  general  justice,  and   not  for  the  sinner.     There  can 
be  no  use  in  the  offer;  for  he  offers  (when  he  comes  to 
explain  himself,)  really  nothing.     The  sinner  is  not  under 
general  justice,  —  has  not  offended  general  justice,  and  seeks 
no  deliverance  from  this  personified  nonentity.    He  is  under 
the  law  of  God.     This  law  he  has  broken :  from  its  curse, 
he  would  be  freed ;  and,  if  the  New  School  atonement  has 
no  direct  reference  to  this  law,  then  the  convinced  sinner 
can  have  no  direct  interest  in  hearing  any  thing  about  it. 
He  is  in  a  particular  difficulty  with  the  law  and  justice  of 
God.     All  here  is  definite  and  terrible ;    and   he   needs  an 
atonement  that  will  meet  definitely  his  wants,  and  deliver 
him  from  the  pollution  of  his  sin,  and  from  the  misery  of  his 
condemnation.     The  gospel  we  preach  meets  precisely  his 
wants  ;  but  when  the  New  School  attempt  to  preach  Christ 
on  the  indefinite  principle,  no  one  can  understand  what  they 
mean.     As  their  views  are  indefinite,  so  their  preaching  is  in- 
definite, and  the  impression  created  is  indefinite  ;  and  the  be- 
wildered worshippers  are  in  the  dilemma  of  Mary,  when  she 
sought  her  murdered  Lord.     He  was  taken  away,  and  she 
could  not  tell  where  they  had  laid  him.     She  had  gone  to  the 
wrong  place  to  find  him :  he  was  not  in  the  sepulchre  any 
more,  nor  yet  is  he  to  be  found  any  more  in  the  matured 
New  School  divinity.     Those  who  seek  him  there,  seek  for 
him  in  vain.     The  -alarm  felt  on  the  part  of  godly  Presbyte- 
rians, scattered  among   the  New  School,  increases  daily. 
They  are  beginning  to  hear  "a  voice  behind  them,  saying, 
This  is  the  way;  walk  ye  in  it."     "Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
Stand  ye  in  the  way,  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old  paths, 
where  is  the  good  way?"     The   old  paths  are  becoming 
more  and  more  obvious,  —  the  way  of  escape  more  and 


THE   ATONEMENT.  105 

more  plain.  Duty  to  God  and  his  cause,  to  themselves  and 
their  families,  will  lead  them  back  again  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  from  whence  they  have  been  decoyed, 
The  day,  I  believe,  is  not  far  distant,  when  their  eyes  shall 
be  fully  opened,  and  when  they  shall  make  their  escape  from 
these  pestilent  errors.  May  the  great  Head  of  the  Church 
bless  his  people,  and  lift  them  up  forever.     Amen. 


CHAPTER  V. 


DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 


Natural  depravity — Denied  by  the  New  School — Its  importance — Its  denial 
dangerous. 


In,  John  iii.  7,  it  is  said  :  "  Ye  must  be  born  again."  Must, 
is  emphatic  in  this  sentence,  it  being  the  intention  of  our 
Lord  to  assert  the  necessity  of  regeneration,  as  it  is  created 
by  the  positive  contrariety  of  man's  moral  nature  to  that  of 
God's.  "  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that 
which  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that  I  said 
unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again."  A  sinful  nature  unites 
with  sinful  objects  ;  a  holy  nature  with  holy  objects.  Their 
affinities  are  opposite.  Flesh  is  flesh,  —  unites  with  it,  and 
resists,  jwith  its  entire  tendencies,"  the  spirit.  Spirit  unites 
with  spirit,  and  resists,  writh  its  entire  tendencies,  any  union 
with  flesh.  Those  differences  which  lie  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  things  themselves,  are  the  greatest  possible ;  and  such 
are  the  differences  which  actually  separate  unregeneratc 
man  from  God.  These  differences  are  in  man's  moral 
nature.  This  is  very  clear,  not  only  from  the  3d  of  John, 
but  from  many  other  passages  of  inspiration.  From  among 
these,  I  select  one,  in  Rom.  viii.  7,  8  :  "  Because  the  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God ;  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law 
of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be.  So  then  they  that  are  in  the 
flesh  cannot  please  God."  This  statement  is  sufficiently 
definite  and  positive.  No  sentence  could  be  constructed 
which  could  more  fully  corroborate  the  view  I  have  taken. 


•  NATIVE    DEPRAVITY.  107 

The  impossibility  is  absolute.  The  moral  nature  of  unre- 
newed man,  and  the  moral  nature  of  the  ever-blessed  God, 
are  positive  enmities ;  and,  if  left  to  the  uninterrupted  elec- 
tion of  their  own  opposite  affinities,  the  separation  between 
them  is  hopeless  and  endless.  Fire  can  unite  with  fire,  and 
increase  the  reciprocal  heat.  Water  can  unite  with  water, 
and  swell  its  kindred  drops  into  seas  ;  but,  constituted  as 
they  are,  they  resist,  with  destructive  violence,  all  union 
with  each  other.  If  it  were  even  possible,  by  some  new 
chemical  combination,  to  modify,  in  some  degree,  their 
mutual  antagonisms  ;  yet  it  could  not  be  true  of  sin  and 
holiness,  flesh  and  spirit,  the  carnal  mind  and  the  law  of 
God.  No  new  natural  combinations  can  ever  destroy,  or 
even  modify,  the  total  and  infinite  enmity, — whatever  may 
have  been  the  intellectual  and  moral  culture  received  by  the 
carnal  mind.  However  strikingly  it  may  have  simulated 
every  virtue  and  every  grace,  it  is  still  enmity  against  God. 
And  the  absolute  impossibility  remains.  "  They  that  are 
in  the  flesh  cannot  please  God." 

Presbyterians,  accordingly,  believe  that  "  the  sinfulness  of 
that  estate  whereinto  man  fell,  consists  in  the  guilt  of  Adam's 
first  sin ;  (see  the  explanation  and  defence  of  this  point  in  the 
first  part  of  the  3d  chapter ;)  the  want  of  original  righteous- 
ness, together  with  the  corruption  of  his  whole  nature,  which 
is  commonly  called  original  sin."  Original  righteousness  is 
wanting  in  fallen  man.  In  his  primeval  state,  the  possession 
of  it  was  his  perfection  and  his  glory.  It  was  the  image  of 
God,  —  a  mirror  on  which  he  lifted  up  the  light  of  his  coun- 
tenance, and  in  which  reposed  a  miniature  resemblance  of 
himself, — his  own  image  in  knowledge,  righteousness,  and 
true  holiness.  Regeneration  is  the  restoration  of  that  image 
in  its  inception.  Man  in  it  is  "renewed  in  knowledge, 
righteousness,  and  true  holiness,  after  the  image  of  Him 
that  created  him,"  and  begins  to  wear,  in  some  small  degree, 
the  early  glory  of  his  nature.     When  our  first  parent  fell, 


108       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

this  original  righteousness  was  lost  to  the  race  :  "  In  Adam 
all  die."  God  departed,  withdrew  his  image,  and  left  the 
soul  in  moral  ruins.  As  the  setting  sun  leaves  the  earth  in 
darkness,  not  by  shedding  darkness  upon  it,  but  by  with- 
drawing his  beams,  so  God  left  the  soul  in  sin,  not  by  infus- 
ing sin  into  it,  but  by  withdrawing  from  it,  its  original 
righteousness.  The  law  required  this  righteousness  in  all 
created  intelligences ;  and  whenever  it  was  wanting  in  man, 
he  fell  into  all  evil. 

This  privation  of  original  righteousness  was  the  point  at 
which  commenced  the  corruption  of  his  whole  nature, — 
"  whereby  he  was  utterly  indisposed,  disabled,  and  made 
opposite  to  all  that  is  spiritually  good,  and  wholly  inclined 
to  all  that  is  evil,  and  that  continually."  His  mind,  losing 
all  its  high  and  holy  affinities,  became  at  once  carnal,  and 
enmity  against  God.  It  was  no  longer  subject  to  his  law, 
and,  indeed,  it  never  can  be,  but  by  an  act  of  creation  as 
difficult  and  as  wonderful  as  that  which  created  his  original 
righteousness.  God,  who  created  it,  took  it  from  him,  and 
he  alone  can  restore  it,  when  the  sinner  is  "  born,  not  of 
blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man, 
but  of  God.  John  i.  13. 

Depravity  is  called  natural,  because  it  is  conveyed  by  or- 
dinary generation.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh. 
John  iii.  6.  Children  are  like  their  parents  in  their  whole 
nature,  body  and  soul,  tendencies  and  developments.  "  Be- 
hold, I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother 
conceive  me."  Ps.  li.  5.  "  Who  can  brine  a  clean  thing  out  of 
an  unclean  V  Job  xiv.  4.  Shall  clean  animals,  as  sheep  and 
kine,  proceed  from  wolves  and  hyenas  %  The  law  that  binds 
each  distinct  race  to  itself  is  uniform  and  universal.  In  the 
vegetable  kingdom  every  plant,  and  every  shrub,  and  every 
tree  multiplies  from  itself,  and  after  itself;  the  original  germ 
lives,  and  bears,  and  spreads  every  where,  after  its  own  kind. 
Throughout  the  whole  animal  kingdom,  the  same  law  pre- 


NATIVE    DEPRAVITY.  109 

vails ;  like  produces  like  ;  all  the  races,  in  all  ages,  retain 
their  original  natures,  and  are  preserved  from  amalgamation 
by  necessity.     The  first  remove  is  the  last  which  it  is  possi- 
ble to  make  ;  the  unnatural  variety  is  barren.     Their  very 
characteristics  are  propagated  with  a  marked  uniformity  and 
universality.     Not  only  the  muscle  and  form  of  the  lion  and 
tiger,  but  the  courage  of  the  one,  and  the  cruelty  of  the  other, 
are  equally  common  and  striking  evidences  of  their  origin 
and  nature.     Man  is  not  an  exception  to  this  uniform  and 
universal  law,  which  governs  the  progress  and  propagation 
of  every  living  thing  besides.     He  begets  a  posterity  in  his 
own  likeness  :  his  body  and  soul,  his  whole  nature  physical 
and  intellectual,   social  and  moral,  is  contained  in  the  first 
man,   and  it  multiplies  itself  from  generation  to  generation. 
"  He  hath  made  [them]  of  one  blood."    "  He  fashioneth  their 
hearts  alike."     The  making  and  the  fashioning  belong  to  both 
body  and  mind.     The  infant  child  possesses  the  carnal  mind 
of  its  parent,  when  first  it  lives  and  breaths,  as  truly  as  when 
in  subsequent  manhood,  it  embodies  its  enmity  in  words  and 
actions.     The  lion's  whelp,  harmless  and  impotent  to  destroy 
in  the  period  of  its  incipiency,  is,  nevertheless,   a   lion  still. 
All  is  there,  which  afterwards  renders  him  terrible  to  both 
man  and  beast,  when  he  "  roars  after  his  prey,  and  seeks  his 
meat  from  God."     The  same  is  true  of  man.     The  infant  is 
the  yet  immature,  but  real  enemy  of  God.    Maturity,  only,  is 
needed  to  prove  him  earthy,  sensual,  devilish  ;    thus,    the 
doctrine  of  native  depravity  is  fully  sustained,  by  all  the  anal- 
ogies in  nature,  meets  us  every  where,  in  the  whole  world,  in 
every  living  thing.     In  the  hour  of  calm  and  unbiassed  reflec- 
tion, the  belief  of  it,  forces  itself  upon  our  soberest  convictions. 
It  is  clearly  taught  in  the  word  of  God.     But,  if  revelation 
had  been  wholly  silent  On  the  subject,  yet  it  is  so  obvious,  the 
evidence  of  it  lies  around  us  in  such  vast  profusion,  it  would 
require  a  special  revelation  to  induce  a  contrary  belief.     No 
one  would  be  able  to  show  why  the  human  race  should  prove 
an  exception  to  a  rule  otherwise  universal. 


110        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

Yet  the  New  School  have  adopted  a  different  view  of  this 
whole  subject.  "  Neither  a  holy  nor  a  depraved  nature  are 
possible  without  understanding,  conscience,  and  choice.  To 
say  of  an  accountable  creature,  that  he  is  depraved  by  nature, 
is  only  to  say,  that  rendered  capable  by  his  maker  of  obedi- 
ence, he  disobeys  from  the  commencement  of  his  accounta- 
bility." (See  sermon  on  the  native  character  of  man,  by  Dr. 
Beecher.)  "Is  only  to  say,"  what  the  Dr.  does  not  say  ;  it 
is  in  fact  to  contradict  expressly  and  in  the  very  next  breath 
his  own  statement,  to  take  back  his  own  words  ;  to  declare 
that  that  which  is  natural  is  merely  voluntary,  and  not  na- 
tural ;  that  the  water  in  the  fountain  is  bitter,  that  is  to  say, 
the  stream  from  it  is  bitter,  but  the  fountain  itself  is  sweet, 
it  is  not  bitter.  "  It  is  a  question  alike  pertinent  and  impor- 
tant, whether  in  the  incipient  period  of  infancy  and  childhood, 
there  can  be  any  moral  character  whatever  possessed,  *  *  * 
properly  speaking  we  can  predicate  of  it  neither  sin  nor  holi- 
ness." (Duffield  on  Regeneration,  pp.  377.  399.)  But  the 
question  is,  in  my  judgement,  as  improper  as  the  conclusion 
is  incorrect.  There  can  be  no  pertinency  in  questioning  a 
revealed  fact,  nor  propriety  in  denying  it. 

Mr.  Barnes  remarks,  in  his  Notes  on  Romans,  v.  14: 
"  The  passage  here  states  a  great  and  important  principle, 
that  men  will  not  be  held  to  be  guilty,  unless  there  is  a  law 
which  binds  them,  of  which  they  are  apprized,,  and  which 
they  voluntarily  transgress."  "  If  it  should  be  said  that  the 
death  of  infants  would  prove  that  they  were  sinners  also,  I 
answer,  (a)  that  this  was  an  inference  which  the  Aapostle 
does  not  draw,  and  for  which  he  is  not  responsible.  It  is 
not  affirmed  by  him.  (b)  If  it  did  refer  to  infants,  what 
would  it  prove  ?  Not  that  the  sin  of  Adam  was  imputed, 
but  that  they  were  personally  guilty  and  transgressors/' 
But  infants  surely,  are  not  apprised  of  the  law  of  God, 
neither  can  they  voluntarily  transgress  it.  And  as  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Barnesr  knowledge  of  the  law,  is  essential  to  guilt, 


NATIVE   DEPRAVITY..  Ill 

so  is  it  also  to  holiness.  Infants  then  have  no  moral  charac- 
ter whatever.  They  are  neither  good  nor  bad.  They  are 
mere  animals.  This  last  it  is  true,  is  an  inference,  which 
Mr  Barnes  does  not  draw ;  yet  it  is  legitimate,  and  for  it, 
his  system  is  responsible.  Mr.  Barnes  after  rejecting  every 
other  explanation  of  Rom.  v.  19  ;  "  By  one  mans  obedience 
many  were  made  sinners  ;"  and  almost  conceding  all  a  pres- 
byterian  could  wish  on  native  depravity,  finally  throws  off 
the  mask,  and  from  the  8th  Rem.  to  the  end  of  his  remarks 
on  that  verse,  defends  the  Unitarian  explanation.  "  The 
facts  here  stated  accord  with  all  the  analogies  in  the  moral 
government  of  God.  The  drunkard  secures  as  a  result  com- 
monly that  his  family  will  be  reduced  to  beggary,  want  and 
woe.  A  pirate  or  a  traitor  will  whelm  not  himself  only,  but 
his  family  in  ruin.  Such  is  the  great  law  or  constitution  on 
which  society  is  now  organized,  and  we  are  not  to  be  sur- 
prized that  the  same  principle  occurred  in  the  primary  organi- 
zation of  human  affairs."  *  #  *  "  If  it  exists  now  it  ex- 
isted then."  *  *  *  "  The  doctrine  should  be  left  there- 
fore simply  as  it  is  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  there  the  simple 
statement  of  a  fact  without  any  attempt  at  explanation."  * 
*  *  *  "  How  this  is,  the  Bible  has  not  explained  ;  it  is  a 
part  of  a  great  system  of  things." 

The  Bible,  however,  does  explain  how  depravity  is  con- 
veyed ;  it  is  by  "  ordinary  generation."  "  I  was  shapen 
in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me."  ';  That 
which  is  born  of  flesh  is  flesh."  M  And  were  by  nature, 
children  of  wrath."  In  these  and  similar  passages,  the  ex- 
planation of  the  manner  in  which  depravity  is  conveved, 
finds  melancholly  utterance,  but  nevertheless,  that  explana- 
tion is  clear,  direct  and  sufficient.  Mr.  Barnes,  however, 
has  no  eye  to  see  it,  no  ear  to  hear  it.  It  meets  him  every 
where;  but  he  meets  it  no  where,  and  his  profound  reverence 
for  the  Scriptures,  leads  him  to  discourage  all  attempts  at 
the  explanation  of  a  fact,  whose  only  obscurity  and  myste- 


112        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

riousness,  have  their  origin  in  his  singular  denial  of  its  exis- 
tance.  Then,  as  is  usual  with  him,  in  similar  dilemmas,  he 
furnishes  an  explanation  as  unsound  as  it  is,  laboured  and  un- 
satisfactory, and  that  also,  after  solemnly  assuring  us  that  it 
"  should  be  left  simply  as  it  is  in  the  Scriptures,  it  is  there  the 
simple  statement  of  a  fact  without  any  attempt  at  explana- 
tion." *  *  kt  The  drunkard  secures  commonly  as  a  result  that 
his  family  shall  become  beggard,  and  the  pirate  and  traitor 
whelm  themselves  and  families  in  ruin  ;  such  was  the  pri- 
mary organization  of  human  affairs."  Such  is  the  explana- 
tion of  a  fact,  by  Mr.  Barnes,  in  regard  to  which  the  Scrip- 
tures according  to  him,  are  silent,  and  where  we  should  all 
reverently  leave  it,  to  its  repose,  without  any  attempt  at  ex- 
planation. 

We  are  to  understand  then,  that  as  the  families  of  drunk- 
ards and  pirates  are  not  drunkards  and  pirates  by  nature, 
but  by  the  corrupting  influence  of  a  bad  example  ;  that 
as  a  different  education  would  have  secured  a  different  result, 
and  that  as  this  is  the  great  constitution  under  which  we  are 
placed  ;  therefore,  depravity  proceeds  not  from  a  bad  na- 
ture, but  from  a  "  social  liability."  This  is  precisely  the 
faith  of  Unitarians.  "  It  is  not  the  depravity  of  nature  in 
which  we  believe.  Human  nature,  nature  as  it  exists  in  the 
bosom  of  an  infant,  is  nothing  else. but  capability.  Capability 
of  good  as  well  as  evil.  The  more  likely  from  its  exposures  to 
be  evil  than  good.  It  is  not  depravity  then,  but  the  depra- 
vation of  nature  in  which  we  believe."  (Dr.  Dewey's  Con- 
troversial Discourses,  p.  18.)  Such  strikingly  evident  coin- 
cidences in  opinion,  between  Mr.  Barnes  and  the  Unitarians, 
led  one  of  their  writers  in  the  Christian  Examiner,  to  say  in 
his  review  of  Mr.  Barne's  notes  :  "  That  while  our  ortho- 
dox brethren  publish  and  circulate,  and  receive  with  favor, 
such  books  as  these,  we  most  cordially  extend  to  them  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship."  And,  indeed,  I  can  perceive  no 
substantial  differences  between  Mr.  Barnes  and  his  liberal 


NATIVE    DEPRAVITY.  113 

friends  on  the  subject  of  native  depravity.  This  I  admit 
would  not  of  necessity  prove  his  views  erroneous,  but  it 
would  prove  that  they  were  not  presbyterian. 

The  system  of  Mr.  Finney  also  is  a  kindred  drop  in  the  sea 
of  error.  "  All  depravity  is  voluntary,  consisting  in  volun- 
tary transgression  ;  Oh,  the  darkness  and  confusion  and  utter 
nonsense  of  that  view  of  depravity,  which  exhibits  it  as 
something  lying  back,  and  the  cause  of  all  actual  transgress- 
ion. (See  sermon  on  important  subjects  p.  139.) 

The  New  School  then,  believe  that  children  are  depraved 
when  they  knowingly  and  willfully  violate  the  commands 
of  God.  Back  of  this  period,  according  to  them,  moral  dis- 
tinctions cannot  obtain.  Many  of  the  New  School  hold  with 
Dr.  Dewey  that  in  infancy  there  is  simple  capability  to  good 
and  evil.  But  Mr.  Barnes  admits  an  antecedent  certainty, 
Rom.  v.  19.  "  There  is  something  antecedent  to  the  moral 
action  of  his  (Adams)  posterity  and  growing  out  of  the  re- 
lation which  they  sustain  to  him,  which  makes  it  certain  that 
they  will  sin  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  act  as  moral  agents." 
"  The  renewed  man  is  exposed  to  temptation  from  his  strong 
native  appetites,  and  the  power  of  these  passions  strength- 
ed  by  long  habit  before  he  was  converted,  has  traveled  over 
into  religion  and  distress  him."  Rom  vii.  14.  "A  man  who 
was  an  infidel  before  his  conversion,  and  whose  mind  filled 
with  skepticism,  and  cavils,  and  blasphemy,  will  find  the 
effects  of  his  former  habits  of  thinking,  lingering  in  his  mind, 
and  annoying  his  peace  for  years."  Rom.  vii.  15.  And  verse 
19  ;  "in  his  heart,  and  conscience,  and  habitual  feeling,  he  did 
not  choose  to  commit  sin,  but  abhorred  it."  And  verse  18  ; 
"  The  obstacles  arc  not  natural,  but  such  as  arise  from  long 
indulgence  in  sin,  the  strong  native  propensity  to  evil." 

Among  the  New  School,  these  two  opinions  prevail.  The 
first  is,  that  infants  are  equally  capable  of  good  or  evil,  and 
yet,  always  sin  as  soon  as  they  become  moral  agents.     It  is 

sufficient  to  say  of  this  opinion,  that  it  contains  the  doctrine 

8 


114  OLD    AXD   NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

of  a  uniform  effect,  without  a  sufficient  cause.  If  it  main- 
tained, that  moral  beings,  capable  of  good  and  evil,  had  been 
sometimes  good  and  sometimes  evil,  it  would  change  its 
aspect  of  absurdity.  It  is  the  uniformity  and  universality  of 
sin  among  all  men.  The  want  of  a  single  exception  for  six 
thousand  years,  and  the  admitted  certainty,  that  there  never 
will  be  an  exception,  which  mocks  at  this  opinion.  If  it  be 
urged  that  Adam  fell  and  that  angels  fell ;  I  reply,  Adam 
also  obeyed  for  a  season,  and  holy  angels  obey  still.  In  these 
instances  the  capabilities  work  in  both  directions,  but  in  this 
they  forever  work  in  one  direction  only.  In  every  instance, 
in  every  age,  under  all  circumstances,  the  first  moral  act  is 
invariably  evil  when  it  could  as  well  have  been  good.  The 
opinion  cannot  be  correct ;  it  not  only  contradicts  revelation, 
but  aside  from  that  consideration,  it  wears* the  air  of  a  total 
improbability. 

The  opinion  that  something  prior  to  moral  action  makes 
it  certain  that  our  first  moral  acts  will  be  evil,  is  a  more  plau- 
sible account  of  our  depravity.  But  to  say  that  that  some- 
thing is  not  itself  sinful,  involves  an  absurdity  of  another  kind, 
equally  great  with  the  former.  That  mental  state  which 
makes  sin  inevitable,  must  be  in  its  own  nature  sinful, 
even  more  sinful,  than  the  sinful  acts  themselves  that  proceed 
from  it.  These  acts  are  transient,  leave  their  stain,  and  pass 
away.  But  their  source  is  permanent,  and  embosoms  and 
issues  them  all.  It  is  the  father  of  lies,  and  the  mother  of 
abominations.  It  makes  the  throat  an  open  sepulcher,  and 
the  feet  swift  to  shed  blood.  It  gives  the  tongue  to  evil,  and 
pours  the  poison  of  asps  under  the  lips.  It  fills  the  eyes  with 
adulterv,  and  blinds  them  to  the  fear  of  God.  It  must  there- 
fore  be  sin  ;  sin  in  its  concentrated  odiousness,  vitality,  and 
strength  ;  the  giant  sin  among  the  sins  of  men.  The  ser- 
pents poison  is  in  his  tooth,  he  carries  it  with  him,  even  when 
he  does  not  bite.  He  may  never  kill,  yet  he  has  enough  in 
*tare  to  slay  thousands;  this  makes -him  dreadful,  and  arms 


NATIVE    DEPRAVITY.  115 

the  world  against  his  life.  Our  actual  transgressions  are 
many  but  they  appear  not  in  infancy,  and  they  are  intermit- 
ted when  we  faint  or  while  we  sleep.  But  the  sin  of  nature 
is  an  inexhaustable  poison  always  with  us  and  ready  on  every 
occasion  and  is  the  principle  cause  of  the  wrath  of  heaven. 
The  grapes  of  Sodom  are  bitter,  but  the  vine  of  Sodom  is 
principally  in  fault.  "  Make  the  tree  good  and  the  fruit  will 
be  good.  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles?" 
"Oh,  Israel,  wash  thv  heart  from  wickedness  how  lone  shall 
thy  vain  thoughts  lodge  within  thee."  "  For  from  within, 
from  the  heart  of  man,  proceed  evil  thoughts,  adulteries,  for- 
nications, murders,  thefts,  covetousness,  wickedness,  deceit, 
laciviousness,  an  evil  eye,  blasphemy,  pride,  foolishness." — 
"  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  Oh,  God."  Maternal  love  is 
the  same  whether  it  be  in  a  state  of  activity  or  in  a  state  of 
repose.  Evil  thoughts  are  the  activities  of  an  evil  heart  and 
they  are  both  alike  evil.  All  actions  good  or  bad  are  not 
only  so  in  themselves,  but  in  their  source.  We  iud^e  of  the 
one  by  the  other.  That  something  in  the  soul,  which  makes 
us  sin,  is  itself  sinful,  the  two  possess  a  common  character 
and  give  complexion  to  each  other.  To  deny  this,  softens  no 
stern  feature  of  truth,  removes  no  difficulty  out  of  the  way  in 
understanding  it ;  but  introduces  an  error  which  contradicts 
the  word  of  God,  is  at  variance  with  all  analogy  and  confounds 
the  distinctions  between  good  and  evil. 

The  belief  in  native  depravity  promotes  repentance  and 
humility.  Its  denial  hardens  the  heart.  David  had  com- 
mitted  two  great  evils,  but  they  were  only  drops  of  bitter- 
ness, compared  with  the  fountain  itself.  That  fountain  must 
be  healed,  or  all  was  lost.  He  would  confess  his  sin,  —  the 
great  sin,  the  sin  of  nature,  the  one  most  odious  and  most  to 
be  dreaded.  "I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my 
mother  conceive  me."  He  would  prevent  another  fall,  but 
that  he  never  could  prevent,  while  the  sin  of  nature  reigned  ; 
its  power  must  be  broken.     "  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O 


116      OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

God/'  His  views  of  native  depravity  filled  him  with  self- 
loathing,  and  brought  him  to  God  for  help.  He  could 
indulge  in  no  views  of  self-complacency.  He  had  grieved 
away  the  spirit,  and  his  fall  was  nature,  unrestrained,  unas- 
sisted nature,  acting  out  its  desperate  wickedness.  The 
restoration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  which  he  prayed,  was  not 
only  necessary  to  his  mental  peace,  but  to  his  future  safety. 
The  adversary,  that  had  reigned  within,  was  too  mighty  for 
man's  unaided  strength.  Hence  his  prayer,  —  "Uphold  me 
by  thy  free  spirit."  Had  he  rejected  the  doctrine  of  native 
depravity,  he  could  have  said,  These  evil  deeds  are  the 
result  of  a  strong  temptation,  not  of  a  bad  nature.  And  he 
could  have  felt,  as  all  bad  and  blinded  mortals  usually  do, 
that  his  actions  had  been  sinful,  but  still  he  was  good  at 
heart,  and  was  not  naturally  destitute  of  purity  and  hu- 
manity. 

Paul,  when  he  would  awaken  among  the  Ephesians  emo- 
tions of  humility  and  gratitude,  assures  them,  that  they  were 
quickened  when  dead  in  sin,  and  that  they  were,  by  nature, 
children  of  wrath.  They  were  delivered  from  something 
more  than  a  life  of  impiety  and  immorality.  These  were 
but  the  effects  of  a  cause  far  more  dark  and  damning ;  and 
the  greatness  of  the  disease  enhanced  the  greatness  of  the 
cure.  Evil  habits  might  be  broken  off,  but  nature  could  not 
cure  its  sinful  tendencies ;  this  was  the  v  ork  of  grace  alone, 
and  must  awaken,  in  the  highest  degree,  both  their  humility 
and  gratitude.  The  qualifying  language  of  Mr.  Barnes, — 
"  He  did  not  use,  he  did  not  say  [Phusei,]  '  By  birth,  or  before 
you  were  converted.'  *  *  *  *  I  do  not  affirm  when 
you  began  to  be  such,  or  that  you  were  such  as  soon  as  you 

were  born ;  *  *  whether  by  a  corrupted  soul,  or  by  im- 
puted guilt ;  whether  you  act  as  a  moral  agent  as  soon  as 
you  v^ere-  horn,  or  at  a  certain  period  of  childhood.  I  [Paul] 
do  not  say."  (Barnes'  Notes,  Eph.  li.  3.)  Such  ideas  were 
not  in  Paul's  mind ;  such  lai.^      r'*  was  not  to  his  purpose- 


NATIVE    DEPRAVITY.  117 

It  was  not  the  habit  of  the  Apostle  to  say  one  thing  and 
mean  another,  —  to  say  that  they  were,  by  birth,  the  chil- 
dren of  wrath,  and  not  mean  what  he  said.  He  was  not 
afraid  of  leading  the  Ephesians  to  carry  their  moral  distinc- 
tion too  far  back,  even  to  the  very  origin  of  their  being ;  for 
it  was  the  very  thing  he  did.  and  intended  to  do,  —  the  very 
fire  with  which  he  would  kindle  their  gratitude.  —  the  very 
climax  at  which  he  aimed  in  his  eloquent  contrast. 

Nicodemus  was  an  awakened  and  inquiring  sinner,  but  he 
was  not  told  that  he  had  sinned  from  the  commencement  of 
moral  agency,  and  that  his  nature  needed  no  change ;  that 
he  had  but  to  change  his  principles,  objects,  and  pursuits,  — 
an  affair  of  no  great  difficulty,  and  within  his  power  at  any 
moment.  There  was  no  softening  of  the  terrible  aspect  of 
things  now  gathering  in  gloom  around  the  stricken-hearted 
ruler  of  the  svnacroLaie.  But  he  wCfe  assured  that,  above  and 
beyond  his  saddest  revery.  was  his  necessity  great,  and  his 
condition  dreadfuL  He  was  born  of  the  ilesh,  and  was  flesh. 
Nature  and  habit  both  united  him  to  evil ;  he  sought  it  as 
sparks  go  upwards,  or  as  water  flows  from  the  fountain. 
and  seeks  its  accustomed  channel.  That  the  birth  which  he 
needed  was  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  this  alone  could  com- 
mence his  return  to  God. 

Saul  of  Tarsus  never  fully  closed  with  Christ  till  he  was 
wholly  persuaded  of  his  total  depravity  by  nature.  Then 
he  could  say,  "  I  know  that  in  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh  dwel- 
leth  no  good  thing.  I  was  alive  without  the  law  once,  [0  ! 
dreadful  life  of  a  most  deplorable  darkness  and  spiritual 
insensibility!]  but  when  the  commandment  came,  sin  revived 
and  I  died/'  The  sin  of  nature  did  not  appear  sin  before. 
It  dwelt  in  him,  and  he  knew  it  not,  but  aroused  now  into 
life,  it  appeared  sin,  and  wrought  in  him 'all  manner  of  con- 
cupisance.  The  instructions  of  inspired  men  are  nowhere 
on  this  subject  apologistical  and  explanatory.  They  did  not 
draw  out  the  spirit's  naked  blade,  and  then  amuse  their 


118       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

audiences  by  an  exhibition  of  their  skill  in  breaking  it  in 
pieces  before  their  eyes.     Native  depravity  was  hell's  dark 
citadel  in  the  heart  of  man.     A  conviction  of  its  existence 
was  necessary  to  saving  repentance  and  faith.     They  knew 
it  themselves,  and  others  must  know  it,  or  be  lost.     Their 
attack  was  open  and  direct.      They  gave  utterance  to  a 
truth  which  oppressed  them  with  alarm  for  the  safety  of 
their  hearers.     They  sang  no  syren  song  to  lull  men  into  a 
"feeling  of  false  security,  amid  the  shoals  and  breakers  of  the 
sea  of  Sodom.     Theirs  was  the  midnight  cry  !     It  struck  a 
chord  whose  vibrations  went  to  the  inmost  soul,  and  con- 
vinced sinners  came  trembling  and  astonished,  and  said, — 
Sirs,  what  must  we  do  to  be  saved  ?     Can  it  be  said,  then, 
that  our  differences  with  the  New  School  are  merely  philo- 
sophical, relating  only  to  the  mere  theory  of  religion'?  What ! 
when  we  teach,  and  youflbelieve,  that  your  nature  must  be 
changed  before  your  actions  can  be  acceptable  to  a  holy 
God]  can  it  be  of  no  account  whether  we  are  followed  by 
commentators  and  ministers  who  affirm  that  our  habits  are 
bad,  our  conduct  sinful,  but   that  our  nature  is  not  itself 
depraved  1     If  our  instructions  were  correct,  were  leading 
you  to  repentance,  to  prayer,  to  faith,  then  theirs  would 
lead  you  back  again  into  your  former  state  of  false  security, 
away  from  the  spirit's  regeneration,  and  from  a  Saviour's 
bleeding  side. 

These  erroneous  teachings  meet  and  embarrass  us  at 
every  point.  It  was  a  maxim  of  Luther,  that  the  Scriptures 
could  not  be  understood  but  by  a  portion  of  that  spirit  by 
which  they  were  originally  inspired.  It  is  taught  by  us, 
that  man  wants  his  original  knowledge,  as  well  as  righteous- 
ness, and  true  holiness.  It  is  taught  by  the  Apostle,  that 
"  the  natural  man  deserneth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit  of 
God,  —  neither  can  he  know  them;  for  they  are  spiritually 
discerned;"  (1  Cor.  ii.  14;)  that  the  "understanding  of  man 
is  darkened,  and  that  he  is  alienated  from  the  life  of  God, 


NATIVE    DEPRAVITY,  119 

through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  him,  because  of  the  blind- 
ness of  the  heart."  Eph.  iv.  18.  And.  if,  under  these 
instructions,  your  perceived  impotence  and  awakened  fears 
lead  you  to  cry  to  Him  that  "commandeth  the  light  to  shine 
out  of  darkness,  to  shine  into  your  hearts,  to  give  you  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  as  it  is  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  2  Cor.  iv.  6.  How  most  unhappy 
would  be  the  effect,  if  you  were  to  read  and  believe  the 
following  statement  from  Mr.  Barnes  on  the  same  proof 
texts,  —  Eph.  iv.  18:  It  is  not  that  God  has  enfeebled  the 
human  intellect,  by  a  judicial  sentence,  on  account  of  the 
sin  of  Adam,  and  made  it  incapable  of  perceiving  the  truth ; 
it  is  not  that  there  is  any  deficiency  or  incapacity  of  natural 
powers ;  it  is  not  that  the  truths  of  religion  are  so  exalted 
that  man  has  no  natural  ability  to  understand  them  ;  for  they 
may  be  as  well  understood  as  any  other  truths.  *  *  It 
follows,  too,  that  as  man  has  debased  his  understanding  by 
sin,  it  is  needful  to  make  an  exertion  to  elevate  it  again ; 
hence,  the  necessity  of  schools  at  missionary  stations." 
When  we  assert  the  inability  of  the  understanding,  he 
asserts  its  ability.  When  we  present  to  you  the  divine 
teacher  in  his  immediate  and  subjective  illumination,  he 
presents  to  you  a  company  of  ministers  and  school  teachers. 
When  we  point  you  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  office-work 
it  is  to  take  the  things  of  Christ  and  show  them  unto  you, 
and  endeavor  to  bring  you  near,  that  you  may  read  and 
hear  amid  the  attractive  and  subduing  effulgence  which  he 
sheds  upon  the  understanding  and  the  heart.  Mr.  Barnes 
interposes  with  a  lens  of  ice,  and  chills  the  warm  current  of 
the  soul,  by  assuring  us  "  that  divine  truths  are  not  so 
exalted  that  man  has  not  natural  ability  to  understand  them, 
and  hence  the  necessity  of  schools  at  missionary  stations." 

But  whether  the  understanding  or  the  conscience,  the  will 
or  the  affections,  are  made  the  subjects  of  examination,  the 
result  is  the  same.     Native  depravity  is  denied  to  exist  in 


120       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

the  soul,  or  in  any  faculty  of  the  soul.     You  will  find  these 
denials  summarily  presented  in  Mr.  Barnes'  Notes  on  2  Cor, 
viii.  12.     "He  requires  a  service  strictly  according  to  our 
ability,    and  to    be   measured   by   that.     He  demands   no 
more  than  our  powers  are  fitted  to  produce,  no  more  than 
we  are  able  to  render.      Our  obligations  in  all  cases  are 
limited  by  our  ability.     This  is  obviously  the  rule  of  equity, 
and  this  is  all  that  is  anywhere  demanded  in  the  Bible,  and 
this  is  everywhere  demanded.     Thus  our  love  to  him  is  to 
be  in  proportion  to  our  ability,  and  not  to  be  graduated  by 
the  ability  of  angels,  or  other  beings."     "  And  thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength." 
Mark  xii.  30.    "  Here  the  obligation  is  limited  by  the  ability, 
and  the  love  is  to  be  commensurate  with  the  ability.     So  of 
repentance,  faith,  and  of  obedience  in  any  form.     None  but 
a  tyrant  can  demand  more  than  can  be  rendered,  —  and  to 
demand  more  is  the  appropriate  description  of  a  tyrant,  and 
cannot  appertain  to  the   ever-blessed  God."      The  above 
precept  quoted  by  Mr.  Barnes,  from  Mark  xii.  30,  cannot  be 
to  his  purpose,  unless  it  is  a  question  already  settled  in  his 
mind,  that  a  change  of  heart  by  the  Holy  Ghost  is  unneces- 
sary previously  to  the  exercise  of  holy  affections ;  that  the 
heart  is  good  enough  as  it  is,  and  needs  not  to  await  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  it,  in  order  to  holy  love ;  that 
the  moral  nature  of  man  is  all  right  in  itself,  wrong  only  in 
its  exercises  and  habits  ;  these  are  under  our  own  control, 
and  we  can  change  them  at  our  pleasure.   For  if  he  intended 
to  maintain  that  God  did  for  man  in  regeneration  what  he 
could  not  do  for  himself;  that  a  change,  inward,  spiritual  and 
supernatural,  must  necessarily  precede  all  holy  exercises,  then 
all  he  has  said  about  ability  is  mere  rhapsody.,   But  if  he 
intended  to  deny  the  necessity  of  such  a  change  altogether, 
then  he  is  at  least  consistent  with  himself,  but  alas !  he  is  at 
war  with  the  word  of  God,  and  with  the  faith  of  his  people. 


NATIVE   DEPRAVITY.  121 

Mr.  Barnes  in  his  notes  on  3d  chapter  of  John,  appears  to 
hold  a  different  view  of  this  subject.  But  I  find  there,  a  ref- 
erence to  his  notes  on  John  xiv.  4.  and  here  again  he  appears 
quite  correct.  But  I  am  still  referred  for  further  explanation 
to  Rom.  v.  19.  and  here  the  mask  drops,  and  (from  his  8th  note 
to  the  end,  which  see)  he  fully  explains  himself.  The  text  in 
2  Cor.  viii.  13.  however,  is  a  favorite  one  with  men  of  this 
class.  Mr.  Finney  having  asserted  that  the  Bible  was  full  of 
the  doctrine  of  plenary  natural  ability  ;  finally,  makes  one 
quotation  in  proof  of  it,  and  that  proof  is  this  same  text  in  2 
Cor.  "  For  if  there  be  first  a  willing  mind  it  is  accepted  accord- 
ing to  that  a  man  hath,  and  not  according  to  that  he  hath  not." 
Indeed,  this  is  the  only  passage  in  the  Bible,  on  which  they 
seem  to  rely.  Elsewhere  the  Bible  is  full  of  the  doctrine  of 
natural  depravity  and  human  impotence.  "We  are  without 
strength.''  Rom.  v.  6.  "  Not  that  we  are  sufficient  of  our- 
selves to  think  any  thing  as  of  ourselves,  but  our  sufficiency 
is  of  God.  2.  Cor.  iii.  5.  "  For  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh,  and  these  are  contrary 
the  one  to  the  other  so  that  ye  cannot  do  the  things  that  ye 
would."  Gal.  v.  7.  The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God ; 
for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  be. 
Rom.  viii.  7.  The  natural  man  discerneth  not  the  things  of  the 
spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  know  them,*  for  they  are  spirit- 
ually discerned.  1  Cor.  ii.  1.  "No  man  can  come  unto  me 
except  the  Father,  who  hath  sent  me,  draw  him."  John  vi.  44. 
"  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  John  xv.  15.  "Except 
a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
John  iii.  3.  Thus  the  testimony  is  not  a  solitary  drop  oozing 
out  reluctantly  from  a  violently  compressed  sponge,  but  it 
breaks  around  us  in  the  swellings  of  Jordon. 

The  Scriptures  are  consistent  with  themselves,  and  the 
passage  in  2  Cor.  viii.  12,  is  not  a  contradiction  of  their  cur- 
rent testimony.  It  does  not  deny  native  depravity  at  all, 
nor  does  it  assert  that  man  is  able  to  obey  God  without  a 


122        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

previous  change  in  his  moral  nature.  If  we  should  grant 
that  the  doctrine  is  contained  in  the  Bible,  it  surety  is  not 
contained  id  this  text.  The  text  simply  states  a  rule  of  duty 
among  Christians,  to  regulate  them  in  their  charitable  con- 
tributions. And  the  rule  is  applicable  to  all  Christians  in  all 
their  services.  They  are  accepted  in  the  beloved  ;  "  they 
are  not  under  the  law  but  under  grace.'*  God  "  beholds  no 
iniquity  in  Jacob,  and  no  perverseness  in  Israel."  And  be- 
cause he  accepts  his  people  who  are  not  under  the  law,  and 
does  not  require  of  them  as  a  condition  of  acceptance  per- 
fect obedience  to  it,  an  obedience  which  they  were  not 
able  to  render  ;  does  it  hence  follow,  that  the  same  rule 
applies  to  the  unrenewed  who  are  still  under  the  law?  It 
cannot  be.  Believers  make  the  law  their  rule,  but  do  not 
make  perfect  obedience  to  its  precepts  the  condition  of  their 
acceptance.  From  that  bondage  they  are  delivered.  Under 
it,  all  others  are  held  ;  and  except  they  believe  in  Christ  will 
be  required  to  do  what  it  is  impossible  for  fallen  man  to  do — 
to  keep  it  perfectly,  or  perish  under  its  curse.  Faith  in  Christ 
is  the  only  remedy,  because  obedience  to  the  law  is  a  perfect 
impossibility.  "  For  if  there  had  been  a  law  given  which  could 
have  given  life,  verily  righteousness  should  have  been  by  the 
law."  Gal.  iii.  21.  Dr.  Duffield  maintains  that  the  sinner  is 
not  utterly  unable  by  his  own  unassisted  powers  either  to 
believe  or  repent  to  the  saving  of  his  soul,  (and  that)  it  might 
as  truly  be  said  that  he  cannot  rise  up  and  walk  by  his  own 
unassisted  powers,  (vide  Duffield  on  Regeneration  p.  342.) 
And  Mr.  Finney  maintains  "  that  if  the  sinner  ever  has  a  new 
heart,  he  must  obey  the  commandment  in  the  text  and  make 
it  himself."  (Sermons  on  important  subjects,  pp.  18  to  38.) 
Now,  on  a  most  careful  examination  and  comparison  of  the 
views  of  the  New  School,  of  Mr.  Finney,  and  of  the  Unita- 
rians on  this  subject,  I  am  fully  convinced  that  they  are  one. 
Not  indeed  in  their  philosophy  and  methods  of  defence  ;  but 
one  in  their  results.     They  all  by  their  different  routs  arrive 


NATIVE    DEPRAVITY.  123 

at  the  same  conclusion,  viz  :  that  the  doctrine  of  the  natural 
moral  depravity  of  man  is  a  mere  figment,  and  the  necessity 
of  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  order  to  holy  obedi- 
ence, the  idle  philosophy  of  the  schools. 

These  errors  are  of  a  very  serious  and  dangerous  character. 
Wherever  they  prevail,  they  dry  up  the  fountains  of  repen- 
tance, quench  the  life  of  faith,  and  harden  the  hearts  of  men. 
No  true  and  great  work  of  grace  can  be  expected  to  com- 
mence until  they  are  exposed  and  rejected.  They  array 
themselves  like  Judeism  against  the  gospel.  Not  as  they  are 
an  organized  system  of  persecution,  but  an  organized  system 
of  false  opinions.  They  are  more  disguised  than  Unitarian- 
ism.  Yet  equally  a  denial  of  man's  ruin  by  the  fall  and 
equally  opposed  to  the  spirits  glory  and  work.  They  are 
the  tares  of  the  field,  which  must  be  ploughed  under.  The 
teeth  of  the  dragon  sown  broadcast  on  the  churches,  they 
must  be  ground  to  powder.  We  are  no  lovers  of  contro- 
versy ;  but  we  have  reached  a  point  where  forbearance  is  no 
longer  a  virtue,  necessity  is  laid  upon  us,  and  for  Zion's  sake, 
and  Jerusalem's  sake  we  cannot  hold  our  peace.  When  Paul 
would  promote  true  religion,  he  also  assailed  the  false.  He 
disputed  in  the  school  of  one  Tyrannus  ;  he  disputed  with 
the  Stoics  and  philosophers  and  Judeaizing  teachers,  and  in- 
sisted in  opposition  to  their  views  upon  the  truths  of  Christi- 
anity. In  like  manner  we  feel  called  upon  to  dispute  this 
whole  system  of  theological  error,  and  "  philosophy  falsely  so 
called."  To  declare  to  you  that  depravity  is  natural  and 
regeneration  essential.  A  change  in  objects  and  pursuits  or 
in  governing  purposes  will  be  of  no  avail.  A  supernatural 
change  must  pass  upon  your  moral  nature.  "  Do  men  gather 
grapes  of  thorns  or  figs  of  thistles  1"  "  Make  the  tree  good 
and  the  fruit  will  be  good."  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh 
is  flesh  ;  its  work  is  manifest  fornication,  uncleanness,  witch- 
craft, hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath,  strifes,  seditions, 
heresies,   envyings,   murders,   drunkeness,   revelings.      Its 


124       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

nature  is  manifest,  hatred,  wrath,  heresies,  envyings,  belong 
not  to  the  animal  propensities  but  to  the  moral  nature  of  man, 
and  show  us  what  that  nature  is.  Its  true  character  cannot 
be  mistaken.  Listen  not  then  to  smooth  and  flattering  words, 
believe  not  that  there  is  no  danger  ;  that  there  is  no  such 
dreadful  depravity,  deep,  damning  and  universal,  bearing  a 
ruined  world  to  a  sea  of  fire  ;  listen  not  to  those,  who  cry 
peace,  when  there  is  no  peace  ;  ability  when  there  is  no 
ability.  Freedom  from  the  the  depravity  of  nature,  when 
its  abiding  taint  dries  up  y/)ur  marrow,  throbs  along  every 
artery,  and  gathers  a  film  on  the  eye  of  reason,  and  turns 
the  manly  brow  to  brass,  and  the  heart  to  an  adamant  stone. 
These  sad  results  are  not  the  results  of  a  bad  example  but 
of  a  bad  nature.  Not  inveterate  because  habitual,  but  invet- 
erate and  habitual  and  universal,  because  they  are  natural. 
"  Who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean."  That 
which  is  born  of  flesh  is  flesh.  "  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto 
thee,  except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God,"  (John  hi.  3.)  neither  here  nor  hereafter,  "for  there 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  any  thing  that  defileth,  neither 
any  thing  that  worketh  abomination  or  maketh  a  lie."  Rom. 
xxi.  29.  Let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain  words  for  be- 
cause of  these  things  cometh  the  wrath  of  God  on  the  children 
of  disobedience.  Eph.  v.  G. 


• 


CHAPTER  VL 


DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 


The  dispensation  of  the  Spirit— The  New  School  by  their  views  of  ability 
and  depravity,  make  the  Spirits  dispensation  void — They  make  truth  an 
agent. — The  Spirit  the  only  agent  in  regeneration — They  place  infants  oil 
a  level  with  mere  animals. 


The  necessity  of  the  spirit's  renovating  agency  has  ita 
foundation  in  natural  depravity.  In  the  beginning  the  earth 
was  without  form  and  void,  and  darkness  was  on  the  face 
of  the  deep ;  and  in  this  condition  it  would  have  remained 
forever,  but  for  the  interposition  of  Him  who  created  all 
things  for  himself.  The  fall  broke  in  upon  the  laws  of  har- 
mony and  motion  in  the  moral  World,  precipitated  it  into  a 
second  chaos,  in  which  its  early  beauties  were  blighted,  and 
its  glory  lost.  And  in  this  state  it  must  forever  have 
remained,  except  "  He  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine 
out  of  darkness  had  shined  into  our  hearts  to  give  us  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ."  We  can  as  safely  dispense  with  the  work  of 
the  Son,  as  with  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  matter 
of  our  redemption ;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  dispensation  of 
the  spirit  is  so  distinctly  marked  and  so  prominently  set 
forth  in  the  word  of  God.  The  annointing  oil  was  an 
appropriate  and  beautiful  emblem  of  his  sweet  and  gracious 
influences.  With  this,  in  most  solemn  and  significant  for- 
malities, the  high  priest  was  annointed,  the  tabernacle  and 
all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry.      It  was  poured  on  Aaron's 


126  OLD   AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

head,  and  ran  down  his  beard,  and  flowed  even  to  the  skirts 
of  his  garments.  From  these  authenticated  shadows  of 
heavenly  things,  we  turn  our  favored  eyes  to  the  heavenly 
things  themselves ;  to  our  great  High  Priest,  as  he  stands  on 
the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  where  the  shadow  is  lost  in  the  sub- 
stance, where  the  spirit  descends  in  form  like  a  dove  and 
rests  upon  him.  And  from  him,  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  it  flows  to  all  the  members  of  his  mystic  body.  It 
is  the  oil  of  gladness,  and  wins  the  reluctant  heart  to  cheer- 
ful obedience.  It  is  the  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  and 
the  same  annointing  teacheth  the  ignorant  and  them  that 
err  from  the  way,  the  wisdom  and  the  way  of  the  just. 
Jesus  came  to  obey  and  to  die  in  the  room  of  his  people. 
It  was  not  in  the  economy  of  redemption,  committed  to  him 
personally  to  furnish  the  New  Testament  Scriptures,  or  to 
gather  the  New  Testament  Church.  By  him  not  a  single 
line  was  written,  not  a  single  church  was  formed.  These 
events  followed  his  ascension,  and  he  assured  his  disciples 
that  »they  were,  by  previous  arrangement,  and  according  to 
the  determinate  council  of  God,  to  occur  in  this  order  and 
manner ;  that  when  he  had  finished  the  work  given  him  to 
do  on  earth,  the  glorious  economy  most  be  arrested  forever 
at  that  point,  and  never  be  issued  and  completed,  except  he 
should  ascend  up  where  he  was  before,  and  prepare  the 
way  for  another  comforter,  who  was  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
whose  designated  work  could  be  accomplished  by  no  other. 
"  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away ;  for  if  I  go  not 
away  the  comforter  will  not  come  unto  you.  And  when  he 
is  come  he  wall  reprove  the  world  of  sin  and  of  righteous- 
ness and  of  judgment.  Of  sin,  because  they  believe  not  in 
me ;  of  righteousness,  because  I  g#  to  my  father,  and  ye  see 
me  no  more;  of  judgment,  because  the  prince  of  this  world 
is  judged.  John  xvi.  7,  11.  No  preaching  was  to  be 
attempted,  no  Scripture  written,  no  churches  gathered. 
"Tarry  ye  in  the  cily  of  Jerusalem  [was  the  direction,.] 


REGENERATION.  127 

until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high/''  "  And  when 
the  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully  come,  they  were  all  with  one 
accord  in  one  place.  And  suddenly  there  came  a  sound 
from  heaven  as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled  all 
the  house  where  they  were  sitting ;  and  there  appeared  unto 
them  cloven  tongues  as  of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them, 
and  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to 
speak  with  other  tongues  as  the  spirit  gave  them  utterance." 
Thus  "  this  Jesus,"  *  #  "  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God 
exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  he  [said  Peter]  hath  shed  forth  this  which 
ye  now  see  and  hear."  And  from  this  blessed  hour,  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  writes  out  the  Scripture  canon  by  his  inspira- 
tion,— gives  the  Apostles  a  mouth  and  wisdom  which  none 
of  their  adversaries  were  able  to  gainsay  or  resist,  and,  by 
an  instrumentality  denominated  the  weakness  of  God  and 
the  foolishness  of  preaching,  an  instrumentality  totally  inert 
in  itself,  and  wholly  inadequate  to  the  production  of  the 
wonderful  result,  gathers  the  church  out  of  the  ruins  of  the 
fall,  and  builds  it  on  the  "  foundations  of  the  apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone." 

The  advent  of  the.  Son,  was  not  more  distinctly  marked 
than  was  the  advent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Son  came  and 
then  ascended  up  where  he  was  before.  The  Spirit  came 
not  to  finish  the  short  work  of  a  miraculous  testimony  and 
then  to  depart,  but  to  abide  in  the  church  forever,  to  enlighten 
the  darkened  understanding  in  the  things  of  Christ,  to  renew 
the  heart  and  to  sanctify  the  moral  nature  of  man.  The 
union  of  the  human  and  divine  natures  in  one  person  forever 
gave  to  the  atonement  its  value.  But  the  Holy  Spirit  pro- 
ceeding from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  inhabited  the  human 
nature  also,  and  filled  the  human  soul  with  gracious  affec- 
tions, and  powerfully  acted  and  infallibly  guided  that  nature 
in  all  its  ways.  If  the  Son  was  possessed  of  a  human  body 
and  soul,  it  was  created  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;   if  led  up 


128       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil,  it  was  by  the 
Spirit ;  if  he  returned  into  Galilee,  it  was  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit ;  if  he  cast  out  devils,  it  was  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  if 
he  groaned  and  was  troubled  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  it  was 
in  the  Spirit ;  if  he  preached  the  gospel  and  spake  as  never 
man  spake,  it  was  because  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  was 
upon  him,  because  the  Lord  had  annointed  him  to  preach 
glad  tidings  to  the  meek  ;  if  he,  after  his  resurrection  gave 
commandment  unto  the  apostles,  whom  he  had  chosen,  it 
was  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  in  fine,  as  his  entire  humiliation 
was  vicarious,  so  every  part  of  it  partook  wholly  and  only  of 
that  character,  he  did  nothing  of  himself,  or  for  himself,  but 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  for  his  people.  Our  Lord  had  wisdom 
and  power  and  every  excellence  in  an  infinite  degree  as  the 
Son  of  God,  coequal  and  coeternal  with  the  Father,  and  could 
have  instructed  and  commanded  the  disciples  in  all  wisdom 
and  righteousness  without  the  Spirit,  but  for  the  peculiar 
economy  under  which  he  acted.  This  rendered  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Holy  Ghost  necessary.  The  first  man  Adam 
was  a  living  soul,  and  rendered  obedience  in  his  own  strength. 
When  he  fell,  the  second  man  Adam  took  his  place,  with  the 
intention  of  restoring  to  him,  and  to  vast  multitudes  of  his 
posterity  their  lost  righteousness  and  ability,  and  as  the 
former  was  to  be  imputed,  and  the  latter  imparted,  his  whole 
work  must  be  regarded  as  vicarious,  and  all  his  endowments 
as  new,  peculiar,  and  as  bearing  directly  on  the  grand  result. 
He  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  for  our  sakes,  that  he 
might  create  a  spiritual  kingdom,  to  rest  upon  a  mediatorial 
basis,  to  be  sustained  by  the  Son,  and  be  beautified  by  the 
spirit  forever.  Every  other  department  of  God's  moral  king- 
dom rests  upon  a  natural  basis,  and  is  happy  or  miserable 
according  as  is  the  natural  character  of  moral  beings,  con- 
tained within  its  limits,  good  or  bad.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
Messiah's  kingdom  and  reimi  in  this  the  righteousness  is  not 
natural,  but  external  to  the  subject,  and  becomes  his,  only 


REGENERATION.  1*29 

in  the  judgment  of  God.  and  here  also  the  strength  and  holi- 
ness of  the  subject  is  not  natural,  but  spiritual  and  imparted  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  If  then,  the  Son  of  God  wrought  all  his 
miracles,  not  by  that  power  which  was  natural  to  him,  but  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  loved,  obeyed,  and  suffered,  and  rose 
again  by  the  power  of  the  same  spirit,  and  after  his  resurrec- 
tion gave  commandments  to  the  apostles  whom  he  had  chosen 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  after  his  ascension  continued  to  order 
and  to  establish,  gather,  and  edify  his  glorious  kingdom  by 
the  same  blessed  agent,  then  how  can  men,  mere  men,  fallen 
and  sinful  men,  expect  to  render  acceptable  obedience  in  their 
own  strength,  or  indeed  any  spiritual  obedience  .whatever, 
without  the  spirit  1  never  was  there  an  opinion  more  unscrip- 
tural,  never  was  there  an  expectation  more  fallacious.  The 
doctrine  of  natural  ability  is  at  war  with  every  feature  in  the 
covenant  of  grace,  with  the  whole  economy  of  redemption. 
The  obedience  which  we  are  able  to  render  of  ourselves,  is 
merely  natural;  that  which  God  requires  under  the  new  cov- 
enant is  purely  spiritual,  and  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  these  are  the  Sons  of  God,  and  are  built  on  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being 
the  chief  corner  stone,  in  whom  all  the  building  fitly  framed 
together  groweth  up  into  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord.  The 
Church  is  called  spiritual,  because  the  human  nature  of  her 
Lord  was  created  by  the  Spirit,  inhabited  by  the  Spirit,  and 
quickened  by  the  S] jirit ;  when  he  ascended  he  shed  forth  the 
Spirit  on  the  church  to  make  a  miraculous  testimony,  to  finish 
the  record  concerning  God's  dear  Son,  to  renew  and  sanctify 
the  saints  ;  and  thus  the  whole  church  is  placed  under  the 
ministration  of  the  spirit,  is  born  of  the  spirit,  enlightened  by 
the  spirit,  quickened  by  the  spirit,  led  by  the  spirit,  sanctified 
by  the  spirit,  and  is  become  the  habitation  of  God  through 
the  spirit,  and  God  halh  made  us  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament,  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit,  for  the  letter 
killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life."  2  Cor.  hi.  6. 

9 


130  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

There  is  a  just  and  obvious  distinction  between  a  natural 
and  a  gracious  ability.  The  former  is  that  which  we  possess 
in  common  with  all  animated  nature.  "  In  him  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being."  The  latter  is  an  ability  flowing 
from  the  Holy  Spirit,  whereby  we  are  raised  from  our  death 
in  sin,  and  disposed  and  enabled  to  render  evangelical  obe- 
dience. By  the  former  we  are  enabled  to  attend  to  all  the 
duties  of  a  natural  religion.  By  the  latter  we  are  enabled 
to  attend  to  all  the  duties  of  a  supernatural  religion.  Mere 
nature  cannot  originate  anything  different  from  itself;  in 
all  its  changes  it  remains  what  it  was ;  flesh  is  flesh ;  the 
stream  never  rises  above  its  fountain.  The  Jews  employed 
natural  ability  and  it  produced  religion  in  abundance,  but  it 
was  like  its  origin,  it  was  not  spiritual,  but  natural.  The 
law  of  moral  necessity  which  binds  a  sinful  moral  nature 
to  its  perpetual  identity  is  as  mighty  as  that  which  binds  the 
planets  in  their  revolutions  and  motions ;  it  never  can  be 
resisted  or  overcome  by  anything  contained  within  itself. 
If  this  is  not  true,  (as  the  New  School  affirm  that  it  is  not,)  if 
fallen  man  is  as  able  to  do  that  which  is  spiritually  good  as  he 
is  to  "  arise  and  walk,''  or  as  he  is  to  perform  any  other 
natural  actions,  then  there  can  be  no  necessity  for  the  spirit's 
supernatural  work,  and  all  the  probabilities  are  against  the 
existence  of  such  a  work.  If  the  present  universe  could 
have  rolled  itself  from  the  bosom  of  a  primeval  chaos,  and 
by  its  own  laws  of  chemical  action,  could  have  covered  it- 
self with  verdure,  and  beauty,  and  life,  then  the  account  of 
Moses  is  at  once  discredited,  for  he  assigns  for  its  existence 
a  supernatural  cause,  when  one  merely  natural  was  suffi- 
cient. And  in  like  manner,  if  fallen  man  has  an  ability  ap- 
propriately his  own,  and  sufficient  to  all  the  ends  of  a  spirit- 
ual obedience,  no  other  ability  can  reasonably  be  prayed  for, 
or  expected.  That  which  can  create  itself,  furnishes  by  its 
existence  no  evidence  or  display  of  divine  wisdom,  or  Om- 
nipotence.    If  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  wherein 


REGENERATION.  131 

\ 

dwelleth  righteousness,  are  but  Jewish   allegories  and  could 
create  themselves,  then  the  wonderful  agency  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  not  demanded,  either  to  originate  or  to  garnish 
them.     There  must  be  a  necessity  for  the  work  of  the  spirit 
immutably  fixed  in  the  very  nature  of  the  things  to  be  done, 
or  else  no  such  work  is  to  be  expected  from  him.     To  declare 
the  contrary,  to  deny  this  necessity  for  the  spirit's  influence, 
is,  as  to  all   ultimate  purposes,    a  denial  of  its  existence  and 
exercise.     It  is  a  truth,  which  lodges  itself  in  the  mind  bv 
irresistable  deduction,  that  God  never  puts  forth  his  power 
in  the  performance  of  any  work  which  could  as  well  succeed 
without  him.     That  would  be  a  folly  which  infinite  wisdom 
could  not  enact ;  a  display  of  power  unbecoming  himself, 
and  without  a  parallel  in  the  works  of  his  hands.     The  au- 
thor of  the  vestiges  of  creation,  by  maintaining  that  the 
universe  assumed  its  present  form  and  filled  itself  with  beau- 
ty and  life,  by  the  concurrence  of  accidental  chemical  affini- 
ties, has  indirectly  maintained  that  God  did  not  create  the 
world  according  to  the  Mosaic  account :  because  the  power 
of  God  was  not  required  to  do  what  nature#could  do  without 
it,  and  hence,  the  inference  is  irresistable  that  God  did  not  cre- 
ate the  universe.     For  if  the  extravagant  hypothesis  be  once 
admitted,  that  matter  had  a  natural  ability  to  take  the  shape 
of  worlds,  and  to  engender  animal  and  vegetable  life  upon 
their  surfaces,  then  as  no  other  power  was  necessary,  so  no 
other  power   was  exercised.     As  the  phenomena   can   be 
explained  on  natural  principles,  it  is  absurd  to  go  beyond 
them  into  that  which  is  supernatural  for  an  explanation. — 
Hence  if  God  has  given  to  man  a  natural  ability  to  obey  with- 
out the  Holy  Spirit,   then  that  is   sufficient,   then  anything 
farther  would  be  uncalled  for  and  absurd,  then  the  spirit  is  not 
given,  and  there  can  be  no  assignable  reason  why  he  should 
be  given. 

The  ability  of  man  to  "  repent  and  believe  to  the  saving 
of  his  soul  without  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  precisely 


132  OLD    AND    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

the  same,  according  to  Mr.  Duffield,  with  his  ability  to  arise 
and  walk"  without  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  as  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  not  given  to  aid  men  to  "  arise  and  walk"  for 
the  plain  reason  that  they  are  already  able  to  perform  these 
natural  actions,  so  for  the  same  reasons  we  must  conclude  he 
is  not  given  to  aid  us  to  repent  and  believe.  We  cannot 
accordingly  be  dependent  on  his  agency  for  repentance,  faith 
or  regeneration,  and  it  would  be  absurd  either  to  pray  for  it, 
or  expect  it.  Would  the  man  in  good  health,  who  had  the 
fear  of  God  before  his  eyes,  dare  to  pray  for  the  special 
descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  enable  him  to  "  arise  and  walk?' 
God  has  given  him  power  already  to  perform  these  motions, 
and  man  would  be  guilty  of  profaneness,  were  he  to  pray 
that  God  would  additional  to  this,  send  down  from  heaven 
the  third  person  of  the  blessed  Trinity,  in  a  special  and  distinct 
ministration,  to  enable  him  to  "  arise  and  walk."  And  if 
saving  repentance  and  faith  are  equally  within  our  power,  then 
to  pray  for  the  Spirit's  aid  in  their  origin  or  exercise  would 
be  profanity,  and  an  expectation  of  his  presence  madness. 
These  conclusions  are  irresistable;  they  force  themselves 
upon  us,  and  lead  us  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of  those  who 
crowd  the  vestibule  that  leads  to  them.  They  shroud  the 
future  with  a  night,  whoso  terriffie  gloom  it  requires  more 
than  ordinary  daring  and  hardness  to  encounter;  and  ah, 
what  shall  be  the  end  of  those  who  are  captivated  and  led 
astray  by  them  1  Many  are  already  quite  fallen — lost  in 
skepticism  and  infidelity,  they  sport  with  their  own  deceiv- 
ings,  and  their  steps  take  hold  on  hell.  That  course  of 
instruction  which  throws  man  back  upon  his  own  resources, 
takes  him  off  in  the  same  degree  from  all  dependence  on 
those  which  are  spiritual  and  divine.  He  may  be  thankful 
for  his  ability,  but  he  will  not  be  very  likely  to  pray  for  help 
while  he  remains  conscious  that  he  can  help  himself.  The 
practical  issues  of  this  belief  are  invariably  the  same;  prayer 
is  abandoned.     The  cry  to  heaven  for  help  breaks  from  the 


REGNERATION.  133 

deck  of  the  ship  when  the  ship  itself  is  broken  by  the  waves. 
In  that  dark  hour  of  peril  and  despair,  when  one  cannot  help 
another  and  no  one  can  help  himself,  even  heathens  cast  their 
final  hope  on  the  everlasting  arm.  "  Arise  !  Call  upon  thy 
God,  if  so  be  that  God  will  think  upon  us  that  we  perish  not." 
Jonah  i.  6.  Sincere  and  earnest  prayer  for  help  comes  from 
the  helpless,  not  from  those  who  can  help  themselves. 

The  denial  of  the  doctrine  of  native  depravity  also  invades 
and  vacates  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  denying  the 
existence  of  the  very  thing  to  be  removed  by  his  blessed 
agency.  For  what  can  be  more  obvious  than  that  if  there 
is  no  natural  depravity  in  existence,  then  there  can  be  no 
call  for  the  Spirit's  agency  to  remove  it.  The  war 'made 
upon  native  depravity,  is  the  indirect  war  upon  the  Spirit's 
necessity.  If  native  depravity  be  mere  theory,  mere  philos- 
ophy, a  mere  figment,  then  the  Spirit's  agency  in  removing 
it,  is  mere  theory,  mere  philosophy,  a  mere  figment.  The 
hand  therefore,  that  wipes  out  the  deep  polluting  imprint  of 
the  fall  from  the  cheek  of  nature,  is  extended  in  the  same  act 
to  blot  out  the  record  and  the  glory  and  the  work  of  the 
Spirit's  ministration.  For  if  there  is  no  natural  depravity  in 
the  soul  or  any  of  its  faculties,  if  men  can  understand  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  choose  and  love  God,  of  themselves 
and  without  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  if  there  are  no  native 
defects  to  be  removed  by  the  Spirit,  to  enable  man  to  obey 
God,  then  it  is  not  true  that  "He  opens  the  understanding  that 
we  should  understand  the  Scriptures,"  (Luke  xxiv.  45)  re- 
news the  will  and  heart  that  we  should  love  God;  for  a 
good  argument,  a  strong  motive  is  all  that  can  be  required 
to  these  ends. 

When  Peter  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  it  was 
according  to  this  view,  not  the  "  Holy  Ghost  which  fell  on 
them  that  heard  the  word,"  (Acts  x.  44)  but  the  inspired 
argument  of  Peter,  which  effected  their  conversion.  And 
when  Lydia  heard  the  word,  it  was  not  required  that  the 


134       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

"  Lord  should  open  her  heart  to  receive  the  things  spoken  by 
Paul,"  (Acts  xvi.  14)  as  the  things  spoken  were  sufficient  of 
themselves  to  sway  her  mind  and  change  her  governing  pur- 
pose, without  any  direct  action  upon  her  heart  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  And  this  is  the  precise  alternative  to  which  the  New 
School  resort.  Regeneration  is  to  be  by  moral  suasion. — 
This  Dr.  Duffield  attempts  through  several  pages  to  prove, 
and  Mr.  Gilbert,  the  permanent,  clerk  of  the  New  School 
General  Assembly  in  1838,  published  a  pamphlet  by  request 
of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  entitled  "Moral  Suasion,"  or 
"  Regeneration  no  miracle." 

Whatever  may  be  said  by  these  men  concerning  the  neces- 
sity and  power  of  the  Spirit  in  regeneration,  so  long  as  the 
Spirit  is  nevertheless,  carefully  and  fully  excluded  from  the 
performance  of  any  direct  work  on  the  heart  itself,  in  impart- 
ing to  it  any  new  principle  of  spiritual  life,  it  is  all  the  same 
as  though  they  had  said  nothing  concerning  the  Spirit  at  all  ; 
for  if  his  power  is  arrested  by  the  argument  and  expends 
itself  upon  it,  and  does  not  touch  the  guilty  soul  by  a  direct 
and  creative  energy  and  impart  to  it  spiritual  life,  then  re- 
generation is  the  act  of  the  sinner,  and  not  the  act  of  God. 
Let  the  infinite  motives,  if  you  please,  be  drawn  from  three 
worlds,  and  pressed,  it  matters  not  how,  or  by  whom,  since 
this  is  all,  for  df  the  sinner's  heart  is  changed  by  the  presen- 
tation of  motives,  then  he  changes  it  himself.  He  who  is 
induced  to  change  his  mind  by  a  strong  persuasion,  still  does 
the  act  himself.  It  is  appropriately  his  act,  and  cannot  be 
said  in  that  case  to  be  the  act  of  any  other.  But  this  is  not 
regeneration  at  all.  The  entire  doctrine  is  abandoned  and 
rejected  by  such  a  definition  of  it.  Regeneration  is  an  in- 
ward spiritual  and  supernatural  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
impossible  to  be  done  by  man.  It  is  in  no  respect  the  act  of 
man,  but  in  every  respect  the  act  of  God.  The  sinner  does 
not  beget  himself  but  is  begotten  of  God.  He  is  wholly 
passive  in  regeneration.     He  does  not  in  it  perform  but  re- 


REGENERATION*  135 

ceives  an  action,  as  when  the  woman  was  healed  by  the 
virtue  that  went  out  of  our  blessed  Lord,  though  active  in 
touching  his  garment,  yet  the  act  of  healing  was  his,  not 
hers.  She  was  wholly  passive  with  respect  to  that  act. — 
Neither  was  it  by  any  words  spoken  by  the  Redeemer, 
but  by  a  virtue  that  went  out  of  him  that  she  was  healed. 
(Mark  v.  30.)  Thus,  in  regeneration,  though  active  in  the 
use  of  means,  though  putting  forth  every  effort  that  we  may 
but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garments  and  draw  virtue  out  of 
him,  yet  the  life  which  we  receive  is  from  him.  It  is  not 
self-originated,  but  divinely  imparted.  This  is  too  plain  to 
be  misunderstood,  too  conclusive  to  be  evaded.  It  is  usual, 
however,  to  object  that  the  mind  is  not  an  agent  that  acts  or 
that  receives  an  action  in  a  state  of  passivity,  but  is  in  itself 
essentially  active,  and  therefore  active  in  regeneration.  It 
will  not  be  necessary  to  a  successful  defence  of  our  position, 
to  discuss  this  new  theory  concerning  the  nature  of  the  mind. 
We  have  only  to  say  that  there  is  a  just  and  natural  distinction 
between  life  and  the  motions  of  life.  Though  these  may  not 
be  distinguishable  in  the  order  of  time,  yet  they  are  in  the  or- 
der of  nature.  Say,  then,  that  the  activities  of  the  sinner  as  a 
moral  being  are  not  for  mi  instant  suspended,  either  before  or 
after  regeneration,  that  even  at  the  very  moment  of  it,  his 
whole  soul  was  roused  into  a  state  of  most  intense  activity, 
yet  this  cannot  affect  the  question  of  his  passivity  with  re- 
spect to  the  acts  of  an  agent  wholly  extraneous  to  himself. 
Those  acts  are  not  his,  he  does  not  perform  them,  and  hence 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  imparts  to  him  a  new  kind  of  life,  a 
life  which  he  never  had  and  could  not  originate  in  himself, 
imparts  it  at  once,  and  diffuses  it  through  all  his  soul,  he 
receives  an  action  from  without  himself,  and  that  action  is  in 
no  respect  his  own.  When  the  new  life  is  given,  he  of  course 
puts  forth  its  motions;  the  motions  of  the  new  life  are  his, 
but  the  life  itself  is  communicated.  So  that  whatever  view  we 
may  take  of  the  mind,  of  its  successive  states  or  essential  ac- 


136        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  TRESBYTERIANS. 

tivities,  it  is  all  the  same  with  respect  to  the  question  at  issue  : 
and  we  therefore  repeat  the  charge,  that  the  entire  doctrine 
of  regeneration  is  abandoned  and  rejected  by  the  New 
School  definition  of  it  :  I  speak  not  of  professions,  but  of 
facts.  They  retain  the  word  but  destroy  its  meaning,  turn 
it  into  an  apple  of  Sodom,  fair  without  but  within  full  of 
cinders  and  ashes,  give  us  pewter  for  silver,  and  brass 
for  gold,  pervert  and  darken  a  plain  question,  and  then 
ask  us  if  we  cannot  see  clearly  that  the  whole  dispute  "is  not 
about  a  fact,  but  about  the  mere  philosophy  of  a  fact?'  Not 
whether  we  are  regenerated,  but  how  we  are  regenerated  1 
when  at  the  same  time  the  dispute  is  about  the  great  fact  of 
regeneration  itself,  whether  indeed  spiritual  life  is  imparted 
to  the  soul,  or  whether  it  is  not.  Whether  indeed,  any  prin- 
ciples are  imparted  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  new,  spiritual  and 
supernatural,  wholly  unlike  any  thing  we  ever  had  before, 
and  which  we  could  not  originate  in  ourselves,  or  whether 
this  old  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Bible  is  the  relic 
of  a  dark  age.  For,  whether  motives  are  or  are  not  presen- 
ted to  sinners  in  the  gospel  call,  is  not  a  question  in  contre-, 
versy,  and  it  never  has  been.     We  all  believe  they  arc.  and 

3  a  mere  evasion  to  talk  about  them  in  the  discussion  of  a 
totally  distinct  matter.  But  is  regeneration  the  act  of  God 
the  Spirit,  does  he  perform  it  upon  us,  does  he  "  take  away 
the  stony  heart  out  of  our  flesh  and  give  us  a  heart  of  flesh." 
(Eze.  xxxvi.  2G)  are  we  born  of  the  Spirit,  "not  of  blood, 
not  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of 
God?"  (John  i.  13.)  In  a  word,  is  the  new  heart  "cre- 
ated" (Eph.  ii.  10)  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  is  there  no  such  act 
of  creative  omnipotence  required  or  exercised]  The  ques- 
tion is  as  to  this  fact:  and  if  it  does  not  exist,  as  our  opponents 
maintain  it  does  not,  then  there  is  no  such  thing  as  regenera- 
tion as  understood  by  the  Church,  and  the  New  School  are 
convicted  of  denying  the  doctrine  altogether. 

They  in  effect  make  truth  an  agent;- this  is  the  necessary 


REGENERATION.  137 

result  of  their  philosophy.     "  The  power  which  God  exerts 
in   the   conversion   of  a   soul,  is  moral  power  ;    it  is  that 
kind  of  power  by  which  a  statesman  sways  the  mind  of  a 
senate,  or  by  which  an  advocate  moves  and  bows  the  heart 
of  a  jury."  (Finney's  sermons  on  important  subjects,  pp.  21, 
27,  28,  30.).     '-Shall  we  suppose  that  God  cannot  do  with 
sinners,  in  reference  to  himself,  what  one  man  has  done  with 
another ;  that  a  physical  efficiency  is  necessary  to  make  the 
sinner  willing  to  confide  in  him.  *  *  "It  would  be,  in  effect, 
to  say  that  man  can  subdue  his  foe,  and,  by  an  appropriate 
moral  influence,  convert  him  into  a  friend,  but  that  God 
cannot  convert  his  enemy,  and  bring  him  to  believe,  except 
he  puts  forth  his  physical  power,  and  literally  creates  him 
over  again."  (Duffield  on  Regeneration,  pp.  492,  493.)    I  find 
Mr.  Barnes  referring  in  different  placos  of  his  Commentary 
to  his  Notes  on  2  Cor.  v.  14.     '-If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he 
is  a  new  creature  :  old  things  are  passed  away  ;  behold,  all 
things  are  become  now."     And  here  I  find  the  following 
statements  :     "  The  mode  or  manner  in  which  it  is  done,  is 
not  described,  nor  should  the  words  be  pressed  to  the  quick, 
as  if  the  process  were  the  same  in  both  cases;"  (i.  e.)  ';a 
change,  so  to  speak,  as  if  the  man  were  made  over  again." 
*    *    -"If  a  drunkard  becomes  reformed,  there  is  no  impro- 
priety in  saying  that  he  is  a  new  man."  *  *  "  There  is  such 
a  change  as  to  make  the  language  proper,  and  so  in  the 
conversion  of  a  sinner."      And  in  Rom.  v.  19,  he  teaches 
that  man  is  plunged  in  sin  by  the  first  Adam,  in  the  same 
way  that  the  families  of  drunkards  and  pirates  are  ruined  ; 
by  a  social  organization.     "And  by  the  same  organization 
he  shall,  through  the  second  Adam  rise  to  life,  and  ascend 
to  the  skies,"   i.  e.,  by  gospel  truth  and  christian  example  ; 
for  in  Rom.  iv.  3,  he  further  explains   himself :   "  Faith  is 
always  an  act  of  the  mind  ;  it  is  not  a  principle,     *     *     * 
"God  promises,  man  belie ves,  and  this  is  the  whole  of  jt.'? 
Faith,  then,  according  to  Mr.  Barnes,  is  no  principle  of  liv- 


138  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

ing  union  to  Christ.  Nothing  imparted  to  the  soul  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  but  simply  an  act  exercised  in  view  of  a  mo- 
tive. The  New  School,  therefore  however  unwilling  they 
may  be  to  admit  it,  make  the  truth  an  agent,  und  invest 
it  with  a  delegated  omnipotence.  They  take  the  Spirit's 
work  and  glory  from  him,  and  give  it  over  to  eloquent 
harangues  and  mighty  appeals.  Their  error  is  a  reproduc- 
tion of  reason  in  her  triumphal  car,  and  surrounded  by  her 
worshippers  ;  there  is  a  pretender  on  the  throne,  an  usurper 
of  the  prerogatives  of  God. 

The  gospel  is  not  an  efficient  cause ;  it  is  "  the  weakness 
of  God "  and  "  the  foolishness  of  preaching."  It  has  no 
power  in  itself,  or  by  communication  to  it,  to  raise  the  dead 
in  sin  ;  and  because  of  its  innate  and  necessary  weakness 
in  the  matter  of  our  regeneration,  it  is  the  chosen  emblem 
of  the  power  of  God,  who  employs  it.  It  is  full  of  persua- 
sions, but  they  are  poured  upon  the  ears  of  dead  men ;  the 
excellency  of  the  power  resides  in  God;  (2  Cor.  iv.  9;)  and 
at  every  step  in  the  progress  of  expostulation  and  appeal, 
the  admonition  should  reach  our  ears  and  affect  our  hearts. 
."It  is  not  by  might,  or  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith 
the  Lord.^  Ezek.  iv.  G.  "  The  gospel  to  the  believer  is  not 
in  word  only,  but  also  in  power,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
in  rrfcch  assurance."  The  power  is  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
he  does  not  delegate  it  to  words  and  sentences.  He  exer- 
cises it  himself,  and  does  not  give  his  glory  to  another, 
nor  his  praise  to  motives.  He  teaches  us  "what  is  the  exceed- 
ing greatness  of  his  power  to  us- ward,  who  believe  accor- 
ding to  the  working  of  his  mighty  power,  which  lie  wrought 
in  Christ,  when  he  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  set  him  at 
his  own  right  hand  in  heavenly  places."  Eph.  i.  19,  20.  The 
resurrection  of  the  body  of  Christ  from  the  tomb  of  Joseph, 
was  a  wonderful  event,  and  the  effect  of  a  direct  act  of  om- 
nipotence. It  was  not  words  ;  It  was  the  spirit,  which  cre- 
ated that  blessed  body  at  the  first,  out  of  nothing,  which  now 


REGENERATION.  139 

quickened  its  mangled  and  mortal  remains.  If  words  are 
uttered  when  the  dead  are  raised,  they  have  no  efficiency, 
but  serve  to  warn  us  of  the  outgoings  of  omnipotence,  in  its 
direct  and  reproductive  energy ;  the  power  flows  out  of 
the  spirit — not  out  of  his  words.  In  th^  same  record  in  which 
we  are  told  that  God  said,  "Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven's 
be  gathered  into  one  place."  (Gen.  i.  9.)  It  is  also  stated  that 
"  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  (Gen. 
i.  2.)  The  word  spoken  was  not  an  efficient  cause  ;  it  did  not 
move  on  the  face  of  the  waters,  nor  gather  them  together  in 
one  place.  The  sentence  "  Lazarus  come  forth."  (John.  xi. 
43  ;)  indicated  the  will  of  Christ,  but  in  itself  it  had  no  power, 
as  it  echoed  through  the  dreary  vault,  to  startle  the  ear  sealed* 
up  by  the  finger  of  death;  the  power  was  not  communica- 
ted to  the  words,  but  to  the  body  of  Lazarus,  and  hence  he 
obeyed  the  summons  of  his  maker.  There  could  be  no  pow- 
er in  the  sentence  itself,  nor  in  the  frequency  of  its  repetition  ; 
if  ever  since  the  moment  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  our  blessed 
Lord,  it  had  continued  to  be  repeated  by  him,  unaccompanied 
by  his  divine  power  directly  acting  on  the  body,  the  sleep 
of  Lazarus  would  never  have  been  broken.  Nor  could  it 
reside  in  its  loudness  ;  a  thousand  parks  of  artillery  discharg- 
ed over  him  could  not  have  waked  the  dead  ;  earth's  internal 
fires  might  have  been  kindled,  and  rolled  their  mightiest  thun- 
ders underneath  his  resting  place  of  quaking  marble,  and  rock- 
ed the  surrounding  mountains  in  their  beds,  but  Lazarus 
would  have  still  continued  to  sleep  on,  in  the  total  unconcious- 
ness of  death.  And  in  like  manner,  the  gospel,  is  in  itself 
powerless,  and  holds  the  same  relation  to  the  resurrection  of 
the  soul,  dead  in  sin,  that  it  or  any  other  words  would,  to  the 
resurrection  of  a  body  mouldering  in  the  grave.  The  power, 
the  creative  and  subjective  power,  is  the  same  in  both  cases. 
Life  is  life,  whether  spiritual,  or  natural,  and  the  one,  is  as 
difficult  to  originate  as  the  other.  As  it  is  written  the  resur- 
rection to  spiritual  life,  is  "  according  to  the  working  of  the 


140  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

mighty  power  of  God,"  (Eph.  i.  19.)  in  the  resurrection  of 
our  murdered  Lord,  from  the  dead.  The  power,  we  therefore 
conclude,  resides  not  in  the  gospel  :  neither  in  its  nature  nor 
by  communication  to  it.  "It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth," 
(it  is)  by  my  spirit  saith  the  Lord."  He  is  the  agent,  the 
great  agent,  and  the  only  agent,  in  the  act  of  regeneration  ; 
we  are  "  born  of  the  Spirit." 

When  Peter,  I  insist  therefore,  preached  the  gospel  in  the 
call  of  the  Gentiles,  it  was  not  the  word  that  fell  on  them,  that 
brought  them  to  Christ ;  but  it  is  stated  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
fell  on  them  which  heard  the  word."  It  was  not  the  Scriptures 
which  opened  the  understanding  of  the  disciples,  but  it  is 
,  written,  li  then  opened  he  their  understandings,  that  they 
should  understand  the  Scriptures."  The  things  spoken  by 
Paul  did  not  open  the  heart  of  Lydia  to  attend  to  the  gospel 
call,  but  the  "  Lord  opened  her  heart."  In  all  these  instances 
truth  is  powerless,  and  the  gospel  the  "  weakness  of  God."  It 
has  no  sweet  voice  to  "  charm  the  deaf  adder."  (Ps.  iii.  3,  5.) 
No  motives  to  sway  "an  iron  sinew."  (Isai.  xlviii.  4.)  No 
eloquent  appeal  to  melt  "  an  adamant  stone."  (Zech.  vii.  12.) 
Its  tears  fall  upon  a  rock,  its  call  is  lost  upon  the  wind,  except 
the  Holy  Ghost,  first,  give  the  ear  to  hear  and  the  heart  to 
understand.  Isai.  xlviii.  8.  Native  depravity  then  exists  as 
a  melancholy  fact  and  human  impotence  as  a  humbling  reality. 
These  sad  results  of  Adams  fall,  are  no  mere  chimeras  of 
the  brain,  no  imaginary  streams  whose  fountains  were  never 
opened,  and  whose  waters  never  flowed,  tthey  prevail  every 
where,  and  all  the  high  hills  which  are  under  the  whole 
heaven  arc  covered.  No  mere  words  can  gather  them  back 
again  to  their  beds  and  restore  life  to  the  bosom  of  a  perished 
world  ;  the  spirit  of  God  must  first  "  move  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters." 

While  the  means  of  grace  are  not  to  be  made  to  occupy 
the  place  and  perform  the  work  of  the  spirit,  they  are  still 
neither  to  be  dispised  nor  neglected,  for  they  are  inseparably 


*  t 

REGENERATION.  141 

connected  with  the  end  by  divine  appointment.  The  prophet 
in  the  valley  of  vision,  did  not  neglect  to  call  upon  the  dead 
to  live,  though  their  bones  were  dry  and  marrowless,  and 
though  they  had  for  ages,  encumbered  the  field  of  the  slain. 
And  by  this  striking  and  well  known  example,  we  are  taught 
to  use  the  means,  not  because  they  are  efficient,  but  because 
they  are  appointed,  and  to  expect  in  the  diligent  use  of  them, 
the  glorious  outgoings  of  divine  power,  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  ,;  whole  house  of  Israel."  Ez.  xxxvii.  1,  14. 

Fire  is  a  natural  cause,  efficient  from  its  own  properties,  to 
destroy  combustible  materials.  Its  action  on  them  is  uni- 
form; whatever  will  burn  when  thrown  into  it,  it  invariably 
consumes.  The  Gospel  is  no  such  cause  ;  it  does  not  act 
uniformly,  nor  from  its  essential  properties.  •  Peter  preached 
it,  and  three  thousand  were  brought  to  repentance:  Stephen 
preached  it  to  men  of  like  passions,  with  equal  sweetness  and 
fidelity,  but  his  exasperated  hearers  stoned  him  to  death. — 
"  It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing." 

The  gospel  is  not  a  moral  law  but  a  gracious  remedy,  and' 
assumes  as  it  comes  forth  from  the  presence-chamber  of  the 
great  King,  that  the  world  is  a  lost  world,  a  spiritual  charnal- 
house,  in  which  sin  has  gathered  and  piled  the  whitened  bones 
of  ruined  generations.  It  comes  to  break  the  strength  of  sin, 
and  to  terminate'the  reign  of  death;  its  voice  is  that  of  the  Son 
of  God,  i:  the  dead  hear  it,  and  they  that  hear  live."  (John 
v.  25.)  It  assumes  that  sin  is  an  incurable  disease,  extending 
its  dreadful  ravages  to  the  whole  race,  and  spreading  from 
joint  to  joint  and  limb  to  limb  ;  no  soul  escapes,  and  no 
member  of  the  body;  "  the  whole  head  is  sick  and  the  whole 
heart  is  faint;"  and  from  the  bosom  of  suffering  huumanity  the 
inquiry  is  wafted  on  every  breeze,  ;'Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead, 
is  there  no  kind  physician  therel"  And  when  "  there  is  no  eye 
to  pity  and  no  arm  to  save,"  no  voice  to  break  the  fearful 
silence,  the  Gospel  comes,  swift  as  the  roe,  or  the  young  hart, 
on  the  mountains  of  Bether,  bearing  an  invaluable  remedy, 


142      OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

and  proclaiming  a  balm  for  every  wound,  and  a  physician  who 
never  lost  a  patient. 

In  this  manner  the  Gospel  every  where  assumesthe  helpless, 
hopeless  ruin  of  the  whole  world.     The  dead  are  already 
perished;  the  sick  are  already  past  all  cure,  except  by  mira- 
cle.    Whatever,   then,  falsifies  or  weakens  this  assumption, 
operates  in  the  same  way  on  the  remedy  itself:  it  brings  it 
into   disrepute;  "  the  whole  need  not  a  physician,   but  they 
that  are  sick."  (Math.   x.  12.)     On  the  contrary,  whatever 
tends  to  increase  the  knowledge  and  conviction  of  its  truth, 
tends,  in  the  same  degree,  to  bring  the  great  remedy  into  de- 
mand.    Hence  the  prophets  and  apostles  were  every  where 
full  in  their  instructions  on  this  point.  They  asserted  its  truth, 
assumed  it  on  all  occasions,  and  illustrated  it  in  every  possi- 
ble way.     According  to  them,  the   sinner's  bones  are  dry, 
his  disease  incurable,  his  eyes  are  blind,  his  feet  are   lame, 
his  strength  is  weakness,  his  wisdom  foil v,  his  righteousness 
filthy  rags,  the  imagination  of  every  thought  is  evil,  he  is 
altogether  become  unprofitable,  his  ear  is  the  deaf  adders, 
his  mind  and  conscience  defiled,  his  heart  an  adamant  stone. 
This  is  the  uniform  image  of  ruin,  and  the  dark  picture  is  no 
where  relieved,  no  where  softened,with  a  lighter  shade.by  the 
inspired  writers.     And  when  the  Spirit  operates  on  the  sin- 
ner's heart,  his  first  work  is  in  perfect  correspondence  with 
this,his  testimony.    The  secure  sinner, whose  heart  is  touched 
by  the  Spirit,  finds  himself  lost — the  pit  into  which  his  con- 
victions plunge  him,  is  the  horrible  sepulcher  of  his  righteous- 
ness and  strength:  both  are  decayed  at  once,  and  God  alone 
can  help  him  in  his  need.     He,  therefore,  who  denies  this 
truth,  belies  this  Bible  testimony,  and  the  Spirit's  convictions, 
and  veils  the  remedy  from  the  eyes  of  ruined  men.     I  know 
of  no  one  thing,  more  contrary  to  all  the  instructions  of  the 
word  of  God,  or  more  highly  calculated  to  do  an  awakened 
sinner  infinite  harm,  than  this  fatal  error.     The  assurance 
of  strength  in  ourselves,  is  invariably  accompanied  by  the 


\ 

REGENERATION.  143 


feeling  of  security.  If  that  feeling  of  security  is  taken  from 
us,  and  our  ruin  is  seen  and  felt  to  be  complete  and  appalling, 
in  every  aspect  of  it,  then  alone  we  betake  ourselves  to  the 
cross  with  a  loud  and  bitter  cry:  restore  it  again,  and  we 
become  secure  in  sin.  There  is  death,  in  this  error  on  de- 
pravity ;  it  stupifies  and  destroys  the  soul  ;  it  heals  the 
hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  slightly,  and  leaves  the 
disease  to  work  our  final  ruin  at  its  leisure.  I  warn  you, 
therefore,  against  it.  You  need  to  know  the  nature,  and  ex- 
tent of  your  ruin,  rather  than  that  it  should  be  hid  from  your 
eyes  by  flattering  words.  If  you  would  ever  avail  yourselves 
of  the  remedy,  your  necessity  must  be  felt;  for  if  you  are  not 
dead,  you  cannot  be  brought  to  life,  not  lost,  you  cannot  be 
found,  not  born  in  sin,  you  cannot  be  born  again.  The  phy- 
sician heals  no  one  who  can  heal  himself;  no  one  shall  glo- 
ry in  his  presence.  As  total  depravity  is  a  reality,  so  the 
conviction  of  our  guilt  and  impotence  must  be  real  and  conclu- 
sive, and  the  praise  unhesitating;  "Unto  him  that  loved  us  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  made  us  kings 
and  priests  unto  God,  and  his  Father,  unto  him  be  glory  and 
dominion  forever."  No  tongue  shall  falter  in  that  song  in  hea- 
ven, or  fear  to  ascribe  too  much  of  the  great  work  to  the  Son 
and  Spirit,  and  too  little  to  themselves.  Grace  began,  and 
continued,  and  completed,  the  entire  redemption,  and  faith 
places  the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  and  crowns  are 
cast  down  and  dominions  bow  in  adoring  wonder  there.  No 
one  is  there,  who  does  not  wear  the  bridegroom's  robe,  "the 
clean  white  linen,  which  is  the  righteousness  of  the  saints." 
No  one  is  there,  who  could  or  did  redeem  himself,  or  who 
could,  or  did  prepare  himself  thereunto.  In  that  vast  assem- 
bly of  ransomed  sinners,  the  recollections  of  past  guilt  and 
impotence  are  the  same  in  all.  There  is  no  dust  of  human 
ability  or  righteousness  in  the  balances  of  that  sanctuary  ; 
the  "  righteousness  -and  strength  of  all  are  in  the  Lamb  alone." 
(Isaiah  xlv.  24.)     In  the  ascriptions  of  that  song,  "  Worthy  is 


144  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

the  Lamb,  for  he  was  slain,  and  hath  redeemed  us  to  God  by 
his  blood,  out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue  and  people  and 
nation, "  the  voices  are  many,  but  united,  the  harmony  per- 
fect, the  melody  subduing,  the  sound  vast  and  comprehensive 
as  that  of  many  waters.  There  are  none  round  about  the 
throne  among  all  the  host  of  the  redeemed,  who  cannot  now 
unite  in  ascribing  all  to  grace.  And  there  shall  in  no  wise 
appear  there,  hereafter,  any  thing  whatsoever  that  worketh 
abomination,  or  that  loveth  or  that  maketh  a  lie  against  this 
truth.  He  that  does  not  partake  of  the  ruin  cannot  partake 
of  the  remedy,  nor  join  in  the  praises  of  the  deliverer  who 
said,  "I  came  not  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repent- 
ance;"  "  the  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  the  sick." 

The  New  School  then  deny  the  necessity  of  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  regeneration  and  make  that  work  improb- 
able and  superfluous  by  asserting  the  natural  ability  of  man. 
without  the  spirit's  aid,  to  do  in  and  for  himself,  all  that  God 
requires  in  his  word.  They  render  his  work  also  an  impossi- 
bility, by  denying  that  death  in  sin,  or  that  natural  depravity, 
which  alone  calls  for  the  spirits  supernatural  agency.  He 
cannot  quicken  a  soul  dead  in  sin,  when  no  such  death  in  sin 
exists.  He  cannot  remove  a  depravity  of  nature,  when  there 
is  no  such  depravity  to  remove.  And  finally  by  their  doctrine 
of  moral  suasion,  they  take  the  spirit's  work  and  glory  from 
him  and  give  them  to  another.  They  treat  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  the  Papists  do  the  Son  ;  they  occupy  his  place  with  a 
strange  God  Rome  has  done  it  with  a  wafer;  they  have 
done  it  with  a  motive.  These  splendid  discoveries  have 
called  forth  the  praises  of  Unitarians,  but  have  filled  the 
(  hurch  of  Christ  with  strife  and  alienations.  "  And  the  third 
angel  sounded,  and  there  fell  a  great  star  from  heaven,  bur- 
ning as  it  were  a  lamp,  and  it  fell  upon  the  third  part  of  the 
rivers,  and  upon  the  fountains  of  waters  ;  and  the  name  of 
the  star  is  called  wormwood  :  and  the  third  part  of  the  waters 
became  wormwood  ;  and  many  men  died  of  the  waters,  be- 


REGENERATION.  145 

cause  they  were  made  bitter."  Rev.  viii.  10,  11.  There  is 
another  aspect  to  this  subject  which  I  desire  distinctly  to 
bring  before  your  minds.  It  teaches  the  annihilation  of 
infants:  first,  it  denies  that  infants  have  any  moral  character, 
and  as  our  Lord  Jesus  was  an  infant  once,  he  is  distinctly 
included.  "  Things  inanimate,  have,  in  Scripture  parlance, 
sometimes  been  called  holy,  as  the  inmost  chamber  of  the 
temple  was  called  the  Holy  of  Holies,  But  then  it  was  be- 
cause of  some  especial  and  peculiar  relationship,  it  had 
to  God.  He  dwelt  in  it;  it  was  set  apart  as  preeminently 
and  exclusively  appropriated  to  God.  In  this  sense,  the  yet 
unconscious  human  nature  of  Christ,  may  be  denominated 
holy,  for  it  was  the  habitation  of  God,  and  singularly  and  ex- 
clusively appropriated  to  him,  differing,  in  this  respect,  essen- 
tially and  entirely  from  that  of  any  of  the  descendants  of 
Adam."  "  It  is  obvious,  that  in  infancy  and  incipient  child- 
hood, when  none  of  the  actions  are  deliberate,  or  the  result 
of  motive  operating  in  connection  with  the  knowledge  of  the 
law  and  of  the  great  end  of  all  human  actions,  no  moral 
character  can  properly  be  predicated;"  "properly  speaking, 
therefore,  we  can  predicate  of  it,  neither  sin  nor  holiness, 
personally  considered,"  (see  Duffieldon  Regeneration,pp.  377, 
378,  379,  353.)  From  the  above  extracts,  among  other 
things,  we  are  taught  that  the  human  nature  of  Christ  was 
once  holy  in  the  same  sense  in  which  the  most  holy  place  was 
holy,  not  really,  but  relatively,  or  in  the  same  sense  in  which 
a  linen  curtain  or  a  board  is  holy,  (i.  e.)  was  not  holy  at  all. 
But  the  Scriptures  teach  that  Jesus  was  created  and  born 
holy;  "  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power 
of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee,  therefore  also  that  holy 
thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee,  shall  be  called  the  Son  of 
God."  (Luke  i.  13.)  To  deny  that  this  nature  was  holy  in 
reality,  contradicts  the  above  text,  and  takes  away  the  prin- 
cipal glory  of  the  nature  itself,  and  the  principal  glory  of  the 
Spirit,  in  its  creation.     The  views  of  Mr.  Duffield,  in  com- 

10 


146  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

mon  with  the  New  School,  on  native  depravity,  lead  irresist- 
ably  to  this  conclusion,  to  wit:  that  the  human  nature  of  the 
infant  Jesus  was  not  at  first  holy,  a  conclusion  not  only  obvi- 
ously erroneous,  but  wanting  in  every  feature  of  propriety 
and  religious  veneration. 

And  again,  if  infants  have  no  moral  character,  they  can 
have  no  moral  nature,  for  these  are  inseparable  from  each 
other,  and  then,  by  necessary  consequence,  they  are  in  no 
respect  moral  beings,  and  are  not  the  subjects  of  the  moral 
government  of  God ;  they  die  by  the  same  law  by  which 
a  brute  dies,  and  perish  as  the  brutes  perish.  "Animals  are 
not  subjects  of  the  moral  government  of  God,  neither  are 
infants,  previous  to  moral  agency,  for  what  has  moral  gov- 
ernment to  do  with  those  who  are  not  moral  agents:  animals 
and  infants,  previous  to  moral  agency,  do  therefore  stand  on 
precisely  the  same  ground  in  reference  to  this  subject."  (See 
Christian  Spectator  for  1829,  p.  173.)  The  above  reasoning 
is  conclusive,  if  the  premises  are  admitted,  to  wit:  that  intelli- 
gent preferences  to  good  and  evil  are  essential  to  the  existence 
of  moral  character;  for  if  they  are,  then  they  are  equally 
so  to  the  existence  of  a  moral  nature,  for  a  moral  nature 
cannot  be  separated  from  its  character,  just  as  a  rainbow 
cannot  be  separated  from  its  colors;  and  hence  infants,  pre- 
vious to  moral  agency,  are  mere  animals.  Mr.  Barnes  evi- 
dently holds,  with  the  others  of  this  School,  that  infants;  are 
not  "  moral  agents"  as  soon  as  they  are  born,  but  that  they 
become  such  at  some  subsequent  period.  (See  his  9th  remark 
on  Rom.  v.  19.)  Against  this  doctrine  we  urge  the  follow- 
ing objections. 

First,  it  denies  our  Lord's  testimony;  "of  such  [is  his  em- 
phatic language,]  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God,"  (Mark  x. 
14:  and  verse  16,)  "and  he  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  put  his 
hands  upon  them  and  blessed  them."  This  kingdom  of  God, 
of  which  they  are  so  solemnly  recognised  as  members,  is  a 
kingdom  of  "righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy 


REGENERATION.  147 

Ghost;"  (Rom.  xiv.  19.)  and  none  can  belong  to  it  who  are 
mere  animals — mere  animals  are  not  redeemed  sinners.  And 
as  millions  of  our  race  pass  the  gateway  into  the  other  world 
in  infancy,  and  as  mere  animals,  their  nature  and  their  end 
must  be  the  same  with  all  other  animals,  they  must  be  anni- 
hilated; and  this  falsifies  the  solemn  statement  of  our  Lord, 
when  he  said  they  belonged  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
turns  into  absurdity  his  solemn  benediction,  when  he  laid  his 
hands  on  them  and  blessed  them.  It  robs  him  of  his  reward. 
He  shed  his  blood  for  sinners,  not  for  mere  animals,  and  as 
infants  are  not  sinners,  they  cannot  be  washed  from  their 
sins  in  a  Saviour's  blood,  they  can  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  that 
matter.  It  robs  the  Spirit  of  his  glory,  in  renewing  the  na- 
tures of  infants,  for  they  cannot  be  renewed  by  the  Holy 
Ghost:  "  the  washing  of  regeneration"  is  applied  only  to  a 
defiled  moral  nature,  and  as  there  is  no  such  defilement,  it 
cannot  be  washed  away — no  such  moral  nature,  previous  to 
moral  agency,  it  cannot  be  made  the  subject  of  renewing 
influences. 

It  denies  the  Abrahamic  covenant,,  and  falsifies  the  signifi- 
cance of  both  its  seals.  At  the  age  of  eight  days  the  seal  of 
circumcision  was  applied  to  the  decendents  of  Abraham,  and 
baptism  is  authorized  at  an  equally  early  period.  In  this 
solemn  transaction,  children  are  recognized  as  moral  beings, 
possessed  of  a  moral  nature,  and  as  sustaining  moral  relations 
which  reach  to  the  fall  of  Adam,  to  the  redemption  by  Christ, 
and  to  the  sanctification  by  the  Spirit.  Such  relations  belong 
not  to  the  brute  creation,  and  therefore  they  are  never 
brought  within  the  provisions  of  the  everlasting  covenant, 
nor  profanely  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Over  them  no  gracious  conveyances 
are  suspended  in  the  promises,  and  no  prayers  are  offered  to 
bring  them  down.  In  relation  to  mere  animals,  such  cere- 
monies would  be  an  abomination,  and  the  consciousness  of 
this  fact,  has  occasioned  a  growing  neglect  of  infant  baptism 


148       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

among  the  New  School.  Their  apathy  has  not  found  formal 
utterance,  but  it  is  the  result  of  their  views;  for  how  can  they 
but  question  the  propriety  of  baptizing,  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity,  a  mere  animal,  which  may  be  annihilated  in  an  hour, 
or  praying  for  the  justification  and  sanctification  of  a  nature 
wholly  free  from  sin  1 

This  doctrine  is  odious.  Those  who  first  openly  avowed 
it,  have  found  that  it  would  not  be  borne,  and  have  blenched 
from  the  withering  gaze  of  an  insulted  church.  Some  how- 
ever, still  privately  assert  their  belief  in  it,  and  others  yet 
meet  us  with  the  evasions  noticed  by  Dr.  Spring  in  1833. 
'•  They  were  not  prepared  either  to  affirm  or  deny  ;  but 
their  minds  seemed  to  be  in  a  painful  state  of  hesitation  and 
skepticism.  They  could  not  tell ;  they  did  not  know  what 
the  Bible  taught  in  relation  to  the  native  character  of  our 
fallen  race.  Ask  them  whether  we  were  born  sinners,  and 
they  will  tell  you  ;  We  do  not  know.  Ask  them  whether 
infants  possess  any  moral  character,  and  they  would  relpy  ; 
we  do  not  know.  Ask  them  whether  they  are  accountable 
beings ;  and  they  would  tell  you  ;  we  do  not  know.  Ask 
them  whether  they  need  the  washing  of  regeneration  and 
the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  they  answered  ;  we 
do  not  know.  Ask  them  what  becomes  of  infants  when  they 
die  ;  and  they  said,  we  do  not  know.  Ask  them  whether  death 
in  relation  to  infants  is  by  sin  ;  and  they  still  say,  we  do  not 
know.'-  (See  Dissertation  on  Native  Depravity,  by  Gardner 
Spring,  D.  D.  pp.  3,  4.)  By  others  again  it  is  suggested 
that  though  incapable  of  regeneration  here,  yet  when  they 
are  in  heaven,  and  old  enough  to  choose  God,  they  do  so  in 
the  first  moral  and  voluntary  act.  But  this  places  infants  in 
heaven  without  their  ever  having  sinned,  and  independently 
of  the  work  of  the  Son  and  Spirit,  either  in  atoning  for  their 
sin,  or  in  cleansing  them  from  it,  and  brings  against  the  whole 
theory  the  original  objections  in  all  their  force,  with  additional 
ones,  equally   formidable,    which  doom  this   error   of  the 


REGENERATION.  149 

schools,  this  offspring  of  a  false  philosophy,  to  its  own  place. 
This  doctrine,  has  no  consoling  words  for  those  "  Rachel's 
who  weep  for  their  children,  and  refuse  to  be  comforted  be- 
cause they  are  not ;"  it  assures  them  that  they  shall  never 
meet  them  more.  No  attractions  for  those  parents  who  with 
cheerful  gratitude  and  believing  hearts,  have  dedicated  their 
infant  offspring  to  God  in  baptism,  for  it  assures  them  that 
the  link  which  unites  their  children  to  the  common  nature  of 
the  domesticated  cat  and  dog,  is  yet  to  be  broken.  Nor  can 
it  either  find  favor  with  the  unsofisticated  ministers  of  Jesus  ; 
it  teaches  them  that  that  child  was  an  animal  for  which 
they  prayed  at  its  baptism.  They  prayed  that  it  might  now 
be  washed  in  the  blood  of  atonement,  when  it  had  no  sin  to 
wash  away  ;  they  prayed  that  it  might  now  be  renewed  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  when  it  had  no  moral  nature  to  be  renewed, 
no  stain  to  wipe  out,  no  disease  to  cure.  Indeed  an  error  so 
uncongenial  can  find  little  favor  any  where,  and  it  would 
soon  cease  to  be  known,  except  to  history,  but  for  its  con- 
nection with  its  source,  the  error  on  native  depravity,  out  of 
which  it  grows  and  of  which  its  very  existence  is  a  sufficient 
refutation.  Of  this  the  New  School  themselves  appear  pain- 
fully conscious  and  are  hence  very  unwilling  either  to  admit, 
or  deny  any  thing  on  the  subject  of  infant  regeneration,  and 
when  the  charge  of  believing  in  their  annihilation  is  fairly 
established  by  inference  from  their  premises,  or  by  quota- 
tions from  the  open  avowels,  of  some  of  their  less  wary 
champions,  they  shrink  instinctively  from  the  spectre  which 
their  wretched  philosophy  has  conjured  up,  and  has  placed 
before  their  theological  chair. 


CHAPTER  VIL 


DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 


Revivals  of  Religion — Views  of  the  Old  School  on  this  subject — Differences 
respecting  their  nature  and  genuineness. 


An  impression  prevails  that  Presbyterians  of  the  Old 
School,  do  not  believe  in  revivals  of  religion,  but  this  is  erro- 
neous. The  differences  between  them  and  the  New  School 
are  not  as  to  the  fact  of  revivals,  but  as  to  the  evidences  of 
their  genuineness.  Religion  from  various  causes  may  decline 
in  the  visible  church.  Her  enjoyment  of  the  means  of  grace 
may  for  a  season  be  partially  or  wholly  interrupted ;  false 
teachers,  and  a  corrupting  example  may  surround  them ;  very 
unfavorable  changes  mav  occur  in  their  external  circumstan- 
ces,  and  from  various  other  causes  operating  simultaneous- 
ly, and  generally,  a  declension  in  vital  godliness  may  come  to 
prevail  to  an  alarming  and  melancholy  extent.  And  when 
God  changes  this  state  of  things  revives  his  work,  brings  again 
the  captivity  of  his  people,  restores  to  them  the  means  of 
grace  and  sheds  his  spirit  upon  them,  it  is  a  revival — life 
from  the  dead  —  a  time  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord,  and  Jacob  shall  rejoice,  and  Israel  shall  be  glad. 

A  great  decline  in  true  religion  prevailed  among  the  Israel- 
ites in  Egypt.  Their  religious  privileges  were  taken  away, 
oppression  interrupted  their  public  worship,  and  their  Sab- 
baths were  forgotten.  A  corrupt  literature,  a  false  religion, 
and  an  abounding  immorality,  combined  to  produce  a  sad 
assimilation  of  the  sieve  to  his  master,  and  in  the  abscence 


REVIVALS.  151 

of  all  counteracting  influences,  vital  godliness  lost  its  visibil- 
ity, and  almost  its  existence.  At  this  time,  Moses  was  raised 
up  to  be  a  deliverer.  Yet  so  blinded  were  his  brethren  ;  so 
brutalized  by  ignorance  and  oppression  they  knew  not 
their  friend  from  their  foe.  Moses  was  rejected,  and  for 
forty  years,  remained  in  the  wilderness,  maturing  in  piety, 
wisdom,  and  experience,  to  fit  him  for  the  great  part  he  was 
to  act  in  the  approaching  reformation;  and  when  the  time 
had  fully  come,  he,  under  the  divine  direction,  entered  on 
his  work.  God  was  with  him  in  outward  signs,  and  in  in- 
ward influences.  The  people  were  delivered,  grew  in 
knowledge,  and  in  grace,  and  the  young  and  rising  generation, 
were  made  the  subjects  of  a  glorious  work  of  grace,  and 
were  ultimately  settled  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  in  a  state  of 
great  prosperity.  The  solemn  profession  of  their  faith  at 
Gilgal,  when  Joshua  rolled  away  their  reproach,  and  their 
religious  character,  as  contrasted  with  that  of  the  Israelites 
at  any  other  period  of  their  history,  furnishes  a  gratifying 
evidence  of  the  genuineness  of  that  great  change  which  had 
been  wrought  in  them  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  which 
their  circumcision  at  Gilgal,  was  the  solemn  and  external 
avowal  and  symbolical  exhibition  :  that  their  circumcision 
was  not  merely  in  the  flesh,  but  also  in  the  heart,  whose 
praise  was  not  of  men,  but  of  God.  This  godly  generation, 
however,  soon  passed  away,  and  were  succeeded  by  others, 
among  whom,  the  truly  spiritual  held  an  increasingly  dimin- 
ished proportion  to  the  increasing  numbers  of  the  people. 
The  children  did  not  grow  up  from  generation  to  generation 
in  the  fear  of  God,  but  grew  up  an  increase  of  sinful  men, 
to  augment  the  fierce  anger  of  the  Lord  against  Israel. 

After  six  centuries  had  passed  away,  false  prophets  had  be- 
gun to  make  their  appearance  in  great  numbers,  and  ultimate- 
ly, by  corrupting  the  true  religion,  and  by  introducing  a  false 
one,  they  succeeded  in  producing  a  great  declension  in  vital 
godliness.     This  state  of  things  was  held  in  check,  from  time  to 


152       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

tim?,  by  oartial  revivals.  One  of  these  interesting  and  mer- 
ciful  visitations  occurred  during  the  reign  of  the  good  king, 
Hezekiah.  (2  Chron.  xxx.)  The  king  being  divinely  in- 
fluenced established  a  decree,  to  make  a  proclamation  from 
Beersheba  even  unto  Dan,  throughout  all  Israel,  that  they 
should  come  to  the  passover  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  at 
Jerusalem,  for  they  had  not  done  it  of  a  long  time  in  such 
sort  as  it  was  written.  So  the  posts  went  with  the  letters 
from  the  king  and  his  princes  throughout  all  Israel  and  Judah, 
and  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  king,  saying, 
"  ye  children  of  Israel  turn  again  unto  the  Lord  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Israel,  and  he  will  return  to  the  remnant 
of  you  that  are  escaped  out  of  the  hands  of  the  king  of 
Assyria.  And  be  not  ye  like  your  fathers  and  like  your 
brethren,  which  trespassed  against  the  Lord  God  of  their 
fathers,  who  therefore  gave  them  up  to  dessolation,  as  ye 
see.  Now,  be  ye  not  stiff-necked  as  your  fathers  were,  but 
yield  yourselves  unto  the  Lord,  and  enter  into  his  sanctuary 
which  he  hath  sanctified  forever ;  and  serve  the  Lord  your 
God,  that  the  fierceness  of  his  wrath  may  turn  away  from 
you.  For  if  ye  turn  again  unto  the  Lord,  your  brethren 
and  your  children  shall  find  compassion  before  them  that  lead 
them  captive,  so  that  they  shall  come  again  unto  this  land, 
for  the  Lord  your  God  is  gracious  and  merciful,  and  will  not 
turn  away  his  face  from  you  if  ye  return  unto  him.  So  the 
posts  passed  from  city  to  city,  through  the  country  of  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh,  even  unto  Zebulon."  But  so  lost  were  the 
people  to  the  power  of  true  religion,  so  blinded  had  they 
become  in  sin,  and  so  hardened  in  a  way  that  was  not  good, 
that  they  treated  the  message  with  contempt,  and  insulted 
the  messengers.  "  They  laughed  them  to  scorn,  and  mocked 
them."  This  was,  however,  not  universal,  for  "divers  of 
Asher  and  Manasseh,  and  of  Zebulon,  humbled  themselves 
and  came  to  Jerusalem  ;  also  in  Judah  the  hand  of  God 
was  to  give  them  one  heart  to  do  the  commandments  of  the 
king  and  of  the  princes,  by  the  word  of  the  Lord." 


REVIVALS.  153 

The  assemblage  at  Jerusalem  was  very  great,  the  reform- 
ation very  thorough.  Those  who,  amid  abounding  impiety, 
had  neglected  too  long,  their  ceremonial  cleansing,  to  be  fully 
prepared,  in  this  respect,  for  the  eating  of  the  passover, 
were,  nevertheless,  permitted  to  partake,  because  if  they 
had  experienced  the  inward  cleansing,  the  ceremonial  could 
not  be  of  such  indispensable  moment.  And,  accordingly, 
Hezekiah  prayed  for  them,  saying,  "  the  good  Lord  pardon 
every  one  that  prepareth  his  heart  to  seek  God,  the  Lord 
God  of  his  fathers,  though  he  be  not  cleansed  according  to 
the  purification  of  the  sanctuary  ;  and  the  Lord  hearkened 
to  Hezekiah  and  healed  the  people,  and  after  seven  days  had 
been  spent  in  this  delightful  manner,  the  congregation  found 
themselves  unwilling  to  separate — they  could  linger  there 
forever,  and  they  kept  other  seven  days  with  gladness. — • 
and  all  the  congregation  of  Judah  with  the  priests  and  the 
Levites,  and  all  the  congregation  that  came  out  of  Israel, 
and  the  strangers  that  came  out  of  the  land  of  Israel,  and 
that  dwelt  in  Judah,  rejoiced.  So  there  was  great  joy  in 
Jerusalem,  for  since  the  time  of  Solomon  the  son  of  David, 
King  of  Israel,  there  was  not  the  like  in  Jerusalem.  Then 
the  priests  and  the  Levites  arose  and  blessed  the  people  and 
their  voice  was  heard  and  their  prayer  came  up  to  his  holy 
dwelling-place,  even  unto  heaven."  This  is  an  inspired 
record  of  a  glorious  revival  of  true  religion.  It  was  pro- 
moted by  using  the  means  which  God  had  appointed.  In 
the  diligent  and  reverent  use  of  these  means  the  people  were 
blessed  with  the  pardon  of  their  sins,  their  souls  were  healed, 
the  whole  congregation  filled  with  spiritual  joy,  and  all 
abounded  in  the  exercise  of  gracious  affections.  Such  a 
work  of  grace  had  not  occurred  before  in  two  hundred  and 
eighty-eight  years.  The  divine  influences  were  abundant 
and  refreshing.  The  time  to  favor  Zion,  yea  the  set  time 
had  come. 

After  this  blessed  manifestation  of  God's   favor   to  his 


154  OLD   AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

people,  true  religion  again  greatly  declined,  so  that  at  the 
end  of  seven  hundred  years  it  appeared  almost  extinct  on 
earth.  External  washings,  the  blood  of  bulls,  and  of  goats, 
and  a  strict  attention  to  outward  forms,  were  regarded  as  of 
more  avail  than  the  sacrifice  of  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart. 
The  Pharisees,  especially,  were  very  exact  in  the  observ- 
ance of  numerous  rites  and  ceremonies,  both  of  divine  and 
of  human  institution.  They  labored  mainly  for  effect,  not 
on  the  heart,  but  on  the  imagination,  through  the  use  of 
imposing  ceremonies,  and  by  the  display  of  an  ostentatious 
wisdom  and  sanctity.  They  made  broad  their  phylactaries, 
and  enlarged  the  borders  of  their  garments,  were  ever  ready 
to  pay  tithe  of  mint,  annise,  and  cummin,  but  corrupt  at  heart 
and  entirely  neglecting  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law, 
judgment,  and  the  love  of  God.  The  notions  of  heathen 
philosophers,  together  with  adulterated  theories  of  their  own 
religion  were  the  husks  with  which  they  fed  the  multitude. 
Such  were  the  blind  guides  of  the  people,  such  were  the  char- 
acters of  the  most  learned  and  influential  in  the  visible  church. 
The  wretched  inhabitants  of  Judea  had  imbibed  their  errors 
and  were  bewildered  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
but  spiritual  blindness  was  not  confined  to  Judea  alone, 
throughout  the  vast  empire  of  Rome,  and  throughout  all  the 
earth,  the  demon  of  darkness  exerted  an  uncontrolled  in- 
fluence, and  his  deluded  votaries  were  led  captive  by  him 
at  his  will.  Philosophers,  whose  intellectual  cultivation  and 
endowments  gave  them  a  noble  elevation,  taught  that  all 
crimes  were  equal ;  that  theft  and  adultery  were  lawful  ; 
that  it  was  right  for  parents  to  roast  and  eat  their  children, 
or  for  children  to  roast  and  eat  their  parents  :  yea,  inasmuch 
as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  they 
thought  that  the  Godhead  was  made  like  unto  wood  and 
stone  graven  by  art  and  man's  devise,  and  from  a  corrupted 
religion  issued  a  corrupted  moral  and  social  condition.  The 
work  of  desolation  was  complete,  everything  noble  in  the 


REVIVALS.  155 

character  of  man  was  prostituted.  All  around,  and  in  every 
circle,  among  the  highest  as  well  as  the  lowest,  among  Jews 
as  well  as  Gentiles,  the  darkness  was  visible  and  might  be 
felt.  It  was  at  this  time,  when  true  piety  seemed  to  have 
left  the  earth  forever,  it  Was  at  this  time  of  utter  desertion 
and  despair,  that  the  day-spring  from  on  high  began  to  dawn 
and  the  sun  of  righteousness  arose  above  the  horizon  of  the 
moral  heavens.  The  Redeemer  of  sinners  stood  on  the 
earth,  and  looking  around  on  the  benighted  nations,  rejoiced 
in  the  spirit  and  said,  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world,  he  that 
followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the 
light  of  life."  After  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  the  Apostles 
were  endued  with  power  from  on  high ;  evangelical  truth 
spread  in  every  direction ;  the  spirit  was  shed  forth  in  his 
quickening  influences ;  an  awakened  interest,  attended  and 
followed  the  gospel  testimony  ;  many  thousands  were  pained 
on  account  of  their  sin,  and  were  led  by  faith  to  behold  the 
Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  But 
not  among  the  Jews  alone,  the  revival  spread  also  among  the 
Gentiles;  "of  a  truth,  cried  the  astonished  Peter,  God  hath 
granted  unto  the  Gentiles  repentance  unto  life."  It  was  a 
favored  hour — a  time  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord,  when  he  was  made  known  unto  them  that,  sought  him 
not;  and  was  made  manifest  unto  them  that  asked  not  after 
him.  The  infinite  and  hopeless  distance  between  a  holy 
God,  and  the  polluted  and  degraded  Gentile,  was  at  once 
traversed  by  the  footsteps  of  bleeding  mercy;  the  long  and 
dreary  silence  was  broken,  and  the  wilderness  and  the  soli- 
tary place  became  glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  did  bud  and 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

It  is  true  that  this  was  an  age  of  miracles,  and.  these  were 
to  answer  their  end  and  pass  away,  but  there  were  blessings 
in  this  age  which  were  not  to  be  transcient  but  permanent. 
These  were  the  blessings  of  inward  and  supernatural  grace 
with  which  the  asre  abounded.     Though  the  healing  of  the 


/ 


156  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

sick,  the  raising  of  the  dead,  and  the  gift  of  tongues  were 
not  to  be  the  ordinary  and  perpetual  concomitants  of  the  gos- 
pel, yet  he  who  was  exalted  to  convince  the  whole  world  of 
sin,  because  they  believed  not  on  him,  by  the  effusion  of  his 
Holy  Spirit  and  to  give  repentance  unto  Israel  and  the  for- 
giveness of  sins,  was  exalted  to  do  it  in  every  age  as  truly  as 
in  the  early  out-goings  of  a  primitive  Christianity.  Other 
sheep,  said  he,  have  I,  which  are  not  of  this  fold,  them  also 
must  I  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice.  The  ministry 
received  a  commission  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  men  and  to 
all  ages  even  to  the  end  of  time.  If  it  can  be  said  in  any 
age,  in  any  place,  as  it  once  was,  "  I  have  much  people  in 
this  city,"  there,  a  faithful  ministry  shall  preach  the  gospel, 
there,  men  hitherto  indifferent,  shall  become  solicitous  con- 
cerning their  salvation,  and  shall  inquire  what  they  shall  do 
to  be  saved.  Gifts  of  healing  in  a  supernatural  way,  were 
not  to  be  continued  except  as  they  were  connected  with  the 
gospel  testimony  and  with  the  quickening  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  on  the  soul  dead  in  sin.  In  this  respect  a  constant 
miracle  was  to  distinguish  the  blessed  gospel  and  that  in  all 
ages.  Glorious  things  are  spoken  of  thee,  Oh,  thou  city  of 
God.  It  shall  be  said  of  this  and  of  that  man,  they  were 
born  in  Zion  and  the  highest  himself  shall  establish  her. 

True  revivals,  then,  result  from  a  divine  and  supernatural 
agency  ;  in  Judah,  when  the  memorable  passover  was  cel- 
ebrated by  Hezekiah,  the  hand  of  God  was  to  give  every 
one  a  heart  to  execute  the  commandments  of  the  Lord.  By 
Ezekiel  it  is  said,  in  reference  to  a  glorious'event  of  this  kind, 
"then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
clean  from  all  your  filthiness,  and  from  all  your  idols  will  I 
cleanse  you;  a  new  heart,  also,  will  I  give  you,  and  I  will 
take  away  the  stony  heart  out  of  your  flesh,  and  will  give 
you  an  heart  of  flesh."  When  Peter  preached  the  gospel 
00  the  day  of  Pentecost,  three  thousand  were  pricked  in  the 
hctrt,  and  the  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily  such  as  should 


REVIVALS.  157 

be  saved:  according  as  it  is  written,  and  thus  it  behooves  us 
to  acknowledge  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  official  and  blessed 
work,  and  to  say  "not  by  might,  or  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit 
saith  the  Lord."  "  To  as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave 
he  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  be- 
lieved on  his  name,  who  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the 
will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.  When 
the  Gentiles  were  called,  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  them  which 
heard  the  word. 

True  revivals  occur  in  connection  with  means  divinely 
appointed.  Hezekiah  employed  the  passover,  a  divinely 
appointed  festival,  to  promote  a  work  of  grace,  and  the 
Apostles  went  everywhere  preaching  Jesus,  as  they  were 
authorised  to  do,  making  the  Old  Testament  scriptures  the 
basis  of  their  instructions;  the  first  day  of  the  week,  ordin- 
arily the  time  for  communicating  their  message ;  baptism, 
the  outward  sign  of  an  inward  grace,  the  seal  of  the  coven- 
ant, and  the  pledge  of  love  and  fidelity  ;  the  Lord's  supper, 
the  commemoration  of  the  Lord's  death,  and  the  means  ot 
comfort  and  support,  the  outward  and  solemn  declaration  of 
faith  in  a  Saviour's  sacrifice. 

When  true  revivals  occur,  believers,  some  of  them  at.  least, 
are  greatly  quickened  and  divinely  led  to  seek  after  them  as 
blessings  inexpressably  great  and  desirable.  Moses  never 
lost  sight  of  the  great  end  which  he  sought,  when  he  refused 
to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  but  preserved  it 
among  the  most  cherished  wishes  of  his  heart,  during  his 
voluntary  exile  of  forty  years  in  the  wilderness.  "For  all 
these  things  will  I  be  inquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel  to 
do  it  for  them."  The  disciples  tarried  at  Jerusalem  and 
continued  with  one  accord  in  one  place,  in  prayers  and  sup- 
plications, until  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully  come. 

The  means  which  promote  revivals,  are  not  natural  causes 
working  uniformly,  and  invariably,  producing  the  same  re- 
sults, but  are  week  and  wholly  inefficient  in  themselves  and 


158  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

dependent  for  their  efficacy  on  the  divine  will.  The  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  are  always  "  according  to  his  own  will." 
"God  has  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  are  mighty."  The  gospel  is  the  weakness 
of  God,  the  excellency  of  the  power  is  of  him;  hence  the 
ministry  is  accountable  for  its  fidelity,  not  for  its  success. 

True  revivals  are  attended  with  alarming  apprehensions  of 
sin  and  misery.  "Felix  trembled."  The  sermon  of  Peter 
sent  a  pang  to  the  hearts  of  thousands.  The  inquiry,  "men 
and  brethren  what  shall  we  do?"  expressed  a  strong  emotion 
common  and  simultaneous  among  awakened  sinners  in  that 
vast  assembly.  The  jailor  of  Philippi,  also,  came  trembling 
and  astonished,  and  said,  "  sirs,  what  must  1  do  to  be  saved." 
Though  the  outward  expressions  of  inward  emotions  are 
modified  by  circumstances,  and  depend  much  upon  the  de- 
gree of  knowledge,  and  upon  the  peculiar  temperament  of 
different  individuals,  yet,  in  all  instances,  the  conviction  of 
sin  and  misery  is  the  same;  every  returning  wanderer  is  led 
to  smite  his  breast  with  the  publican;  to  feel  his  want  and 
to  see  that  he  must  perish  without  a  deliverer,  and  to  return 
and  to  confess  with  tears,  his  unworthiness  and  poverty,  with 
the  prodigal;  whatever  attainments  may  have  been  made 
in  piety  and  morality  before,  all,  in  any  event,  learn  with 
Paul,  to  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the 
knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  for  whom  they  are 
ready  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  they  do  count  them 
dung,  that  they  may  win  Christ  and  be  found  in  him;  not 
having  their  own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  but  that 
which  is  of  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  righteousness 
which  is  of  God  by  faith. 

The  Mosaic  ritual  subserved  its  end  and  passed  away. — 
Miracles  were  wrought,  and  confirmed  the  testimony  which 
they  were  sent  to  establish,  and  ceased  in  the  church ;  but  there 
are  other  things  inseparable  from  the  uniform  condition  of 
our  common  humanity,  and  which  are  essential  to  the  nature 


REVIVALS.  159 

and  perpetuity  of  the  Gospel,  and  which  must  continue  to  the 
end   of  time:  as  for  instance,   man's   ignorance   of   divine 
things,   even  when  he  has  an  intellectual  acquaintance  with 
them.     Of  the  natural  man,  it  must  ever  remain  true,  that 
he  discerneth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they 
are  foolishness  unto  him,  neither  can  he  know  them,  because 
they  are  spiritually  discerned."     Whenever  the  natural  man, 
therefore,   receives  from  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  illumination 
which  discovers  to  him  his  sin  and  misery,  and  his  need  of  a 
redeemer,  this  discovery  must  invariably  be  attended  with 
emotion;  he  must  become  tremblingly  alive  to  his  guilt  and 
danger,   and  the  vast  question  which  agitates  him,  must,  in 
the  very  nature  of  things,  take  precedence  of  all  others. — 
When  we  are  threatened  with  the  loss  of  property,  or  of 
kindred,  or  of  liberty,  whatever  may  be  those  calamities, 
merely  temporal,  which  surround  us,  we  can  discover  some 
alleviation,  and  gather  courage  from  the  hope  of  better  days; 
but  when  the  Holy  Spirit  convinces  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment,  the  evils  which  threaten  us  have  neither 
measure  nor  mitigation;  we  fear  and  quake  before  a  burning 
mountain,  and  the  voice  of  unearthly  words;  we  stand  ap- 
palled and  condemned  in  the  presence  of  an  offended  God, 
and  in  view  of  the  wrath  to  come.     If  we  could  pity  our- 
selves as  simply  unfortunate,  then  we  could  remain  strong 
amid  unavoidable  afflictions,  and  feel  that  we  had  merited  a 
better  fate;  but  when  conscience  turns  accuser,  and  institutes 
a  terrible  scrutiny  of  the  past,  and  brings  up  appalling  visions 
of  judgment  and  eternity,  natural  fortitude  and  resolution 
are  of  no  avail     There  is  no  waste,  like  that  which  wastes 
the  supplies — no  drain  so  exhausting,  as  that  which  exhausts 
the  fountain — no  blow,  like  that  which  smites  the  heart. — 
The  spirit  of  a  man  can  sustain  his  infirmity,  but  a  wounded 
spirit,  who  can  bear  1 

The  miraculous  changes,  which  a  true  revival  of  religion 
supposes,  must  be  common  to  the  church  in  all  ages.     They 


160       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

may  extend  to  a  few  individuals,  every  month,  for  several 
years,  as  in  the  gathering  of  the  churches  of  Coiinth  and 
Ephesus,  or  be  a  sudden  and  simultaneous  influence  upon 
thousands,  in  a  moment,  as  in  the  great  revival  at  Jerusalem; 
but  all  true  revivals  are  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 
operates,  in  conjunction  with  the  means  of  grace;"  "  whereby 
convincing,  [either  one,  or  thousands,]  of  their  sin  and  mis- 
ery, enligntening  their  minds  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
and  renewing  their  wills,  he  doth  persuade  and  enable  them 
to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  freely  offered  in  the  gospel." 

Tradition  affirms  of  Paul,  that  when  he  fulfilled  his  pur- 
pose of  making  a  journey  into  Spain,  he  passed  from  Italy, 
on  the  old  Roman  road,  across  the  Alps,  which  led  him  through 
Piedmont,  where  he  paused  and  preached  the  gospel,  and 
established  a  church.  This  secluded  spot,  remote  from  the 
corrupting  influence  of  cities  and  false  teachers,  retained  the 
primitive  simplicity  of  the  apostolic  faith,  unchanged,  amid 
surrounding  defection  and  apostacy.  The  churches  which 
grew  up  here,  were  kept  alive,  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, by  influences  graciously  shed  upon  them  from  on  high, 
until  the  seventh  century, when  they  received  accessions  from 
other  quarters.  True  Christians,  throughout  the  Roman 
Empire,  weary  with  remonstrating  in  vain  against  the  cor- 
ruptions of  an  apostate  and  a  doomed  church,  and  discouraged 
by  opposition  and  persecution,  retired, according  to  Moshiem 
into  an  obscure  place  in  the  valhVs  of  Piedmont.  From  the 
seventh  to  the  twelfth  centuries,  we  have  repeated  notices  of 
them  from  their  enemies;  by  them  they  are  represented  as 
maintaining  a  church  state,  separately  from  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  as  existing  and  increasing,  until  they  filled  the 
beautiful  and  secluded  vallies  that  lie  embosmed  amid  the 
Alps  and  Pyrenees,  with  immense  multitudes  of  believers  in 
their  unchanged  and  primitive  creed.  Though  distinguished, 
from  age  to  age,  by  the  life  and  soundness  of  their  Christi- 
anity, yet  we  know  of  no  great  movement  among  them,  until 


REVIVALS. 


161 


near  the  close  of    the  twelfth  century.      At  that  period, 
they  were  remarkably  revived  and  spread  themselves,  and 
their  peculiar  opinions  throughout  the  world.    Intimately  con- 
nected with  the  early  progress  of  the  primitive  church,  was 
the  remarkable  conversion  of  a  young  man,  whose  name  was 
Saul,  and  whose  education  and  position  fitted  him,  preemi- 
nently, to  be  a  chosen  vessel,  to  be  sent  far  from  Jerusalem, 
among   the  Gentiles,  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ.     A  similar  event  was  connected  with  the  great  work 
of  grace,  to  which  our  attention  is  now  turned.     A  rich 
merchant  of  Lyons,  talented  and  educated,  was  present  at  a 
convivial  meeting  among  his  boon  companions,  when  one  ol 
his  friends,  without  any  previous  warning,  suddenly  expired, 
and  went  from  the  place  of  merriment  to  his  last  account. — 
The  death  of  that  man  was  a  warning,  never  forgotten  by 
the  young  tradesman — he  became  another  man;  he  gave  up 
his  mercantile  pursuits,  distributed  his  property  to  the  poor, 
and  found  peace  in  believing  in  that  gospel  which  he  discov- 
ered in  his  Latin  testament.     This  he  translated  into  French, 
and  was  soon  surrounded  by  large  congregations,  and  associ- 
ated with  other,  and  able  ministers  of  Jesus,  who,  in  con- 
junction with  him,  preached  Christ  with  great  earnestness  and 
with  great  success.     This  merchant  was  Peter   Waldo. — 
The  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  hearing  of  his  doctrine  and  suc- 
cess, denounced  him,  and  Pope  Alexander  the  third,  excom- 
municated him,   devoting  him  and  his  followers  to  fire  and 
sword.     From  Lyons  he  fled  into  Dauphiny,  where  he  and 
his  associates  preached,  and  won  great  numbers  to  the  faith. 
Driven  from  thence,  he  went  into  Picardy:  a  great  revival 
attended  his  ministry,  in  that  place;  but  assailed  again  by 
persecution,  he  fled  into  Germany,  and  finally  settled  in  Bohe- 
mia.    Through  this  beautiful  country,  his  principles  became 
speedily  prevalent,  and  here,  twenty  years  from  the  time  of 
his  conversion,  he  died  in  the  triumphs  of  faith.     During  this 
period,  the  churches  in  the  valleys  were  all  in  motion,  partak- 

11 


182        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

ing  largely  of  divine  influences,  and  their  ministry  penetrated 
into  Spain,  Italy,  France,  Germany,  the  Netherlands,  Scot- 
land, Ireland;  in  a  word,  into  every  nation  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  spread  their  principles,  and  made  converts  ev- 
ery where.  Reinerius  Saccho  declares  in  his  report,  as  a  Ro- 
man inquisitor,  "  that  the  sect  was  universally  diffused,  that 
there  was  no  country  in  which  they  were  not  found  in  great 
numbers."  Above  a  million  were  put  to  dejxth,  in  France 
alone.  The  prisons  were  so  crowded  with  them,  other 
methods  were  devised  and  resorted  to,  to  thin  their  ranks.  The 
Inquisition  was  originated  and  established,  to  aid  in  their  more 
speedy  destruction;  its  infernal  court  followed  them  into  ev- 
ery country,  and  wasted  them  under  the  forms  of  law.  But 
even  this  process  was  too  slow:  crusaders,  in  vast  armies, 
were  employed  by  Pope  Innocent  the  third,  to  exterminate 
them  at  once;  these  fell  upon  them  in  a  war  of  indiscriminate 
cruelty  and  carnage:  and  the  great  revival  was  arrested  in 
blood. 

In  the  year  1503,  a  poor  and  comparatively  friendless 
young  man,  the  son  of  a  miner,  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his 
age,  and  thirsting  for  knowledge,  stood  alone  in  the  library 
of  the  University  at  Erfurth,  and,  while  examining  the  title 
pages  of  books,  he  at  length  met  with  one  entirely  new  to 
him.  It  was  the  Bible.  This  book  he  read  with  awakened 
interest ;  his  frequent  visits  at  the  library  were  for  the  pur- 
pose of  becoming  acquainted  with  its  contents.  He  is  at 
■ngth  taken  sick,  and  during  his  sickness,  is  filled  with 
dreadful  apprehensions  of  the  wrath  of  God.  He  recovers 
and  as  he  walks  alone  in  the  open  field,  he  is  overtaken  by  a 
storm — a  thunderbolt  plunges  at  his  feet — he  recoils  from 
the  smouldering  chasm,  falls  upon  his  knees,  and  vows  that 
if  God  will  spare  his  life,  he  will  devote  it  to  his  service. 
See  him,  then,  according  to  the  ideas  of  that  day,  fulfilling 
his  vow  in  the  habit  of  a  monk,  becoming  a  mendicant,  and 
a  recluse,  and  here,  to  use  his  own  language,  "  I  tormented 


mk 


REVIVALS.  163 

myself  to  death,  to  procure  for  my  troubled  heart,  and  agi- 
tated conscience,  peace  in  the  presence  of  God,"  but  in  vain. 
The  text,  "the  just  shall  live  by  faith,"  was  deeply  impress- 
ed upon  his  mind,  and  as  he  crossed  the  Alps,  on  his  way  to 
Rome,  he  fell  sick,  and,  when  at  thetpoint  of  death,  the  text 
again  occurs  to  him,  a  great  mental  struggle  ensues;  he 
gains  some  faint  knowledge  of  the  great  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation— the  battle-axe  afterward  in  his  hand  against  the 
walls  of  papal  Rome — he  recovers,  and  visits  Italy,  still 
intent  on  justification  by  the  merit  of  good  works.  Here, 
while  ascending  Pilate's  stair-case  on  his  bended  knees,  a 
voice  reaches  his  startled  ear,  the  text  occurs  to  him  in  a 
thunder  peal,  "the  just  shall  live  by  faith."  It  was  the  voice 
of  an  effectual  call;  his  will  was  renewed,  his  mind  enlicht- 
ened  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Redeemer,  and  he  was  enabled 
to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  was  freely  offered  in  the  gos- 
pel. Every  monkish  austerity  had  been  essayed;  he  had 
fasted,  prayed,  and  mortified  his  soul  and  body  until,  on  one 
occasion,  the  light  of  his  eye  was  quenched,  and  his  worn 
and  attenuated  frame  fell  back  lifeless  on  the  floor  of  his  ceW. 
he  was,  with  great  difficulty  recalled  again  to  life,  and  hence 
he  could  say,  if  ever  a  monk  went  to  heaven  by  his  good  works, 
I  more;  for  where  they  fasted  four  weeks,  I  fasted  seven, 
and  excelled  all  in  self-denial  and  in  prayers,  and  in  bodi- 
ly mortifications.  This  man  was  Luther,  an  eminent 
preacher  of  total  depravity;  human  impotence;  effectual 
calling  by  the  subjective  and  creative  influence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  imputation,  justification  by  faith  in  the  righteousness 
of  Christ;  election  and  predestination.  The  light  spread 
over  all  Europe,  Switzerland,  France,  the  Netherlands,  Swe- 
den, Denmark,  Norway,  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
received  the  faith;  whole  nations  threw  off  the  Papal 
yoke,  and  vast  multitudes  continued  to  experience  the  power 
of  that  gospel  which  brought  Luther  to  Christ.  This  is 
called  the  great  reformation  of  the  16th  century.     Let  us 


-*'  * 


164        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  TRESBYTERIANS. 

not,  however,  amid  the  controversies,  and  convulsions,  and 
revolutions,  of  that  age,  lose  sight  of  the  great  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  whose  gracious  influences  imparted,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  Luther,  were  also  .imparted  to  thousands,  and  pro- 
duced the  same  great  results  in  them:  they  were  in  great 
numbers,  convinced,  as  he  was,  of  their  "sin  and  misery, 
their  minds  were  enlightened  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
their  wills  renewed,  and  they  were  persuaded  and  enabled 
to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  as  he  was  freely  offered  ih  the  gos- 
pel." The  reformation  of  the  16th  century  began  and  was 
spread  by  the  Holy ,  Ghost  in  the  hearts  of  men;  an 
irresistable  spiritual  influence  descended  in  e\Tery  country 
upon  the  people — men  were  everywhere  pricked  in  the 
h^art,  awakened,  convinced,  and  led  to  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  The  churches  of  the  valleys  hearing  of  the 
great  revival,  visited  the  reformers,  and  found,  on  a  com- 
parison of  their  respective  views,  that  their  opinions  of  church 
government,  and  of  doctrinal  and  experimental  religion,  were 
the  same ;  found  that  they  were  the  same  people,  being  per- 
fectly joined  together  in  the  same  mind,  and  in  the  same 
judgment.  Calvin  took  his  model  of  Presbyterianism  from 
the  Bohemians,  which,  two  hundred  years  before,  had  been 
left  them  by  Peter  Waldo.  Knox  carried  it  into  Scotland, 
and  its  General  Assembly  sent  it  into  America.  The 
churches  of  the  valleys,  are  believed  by  Newton,  Faber 
Scott,  and  many  others,  and  also  by  Old  and  New  School 
Presbyterians  generally,  to  be  those  witnesses  in  the  wil- 
derness who  are  referred  to  by  St.  John,  in  Revelations;  and 
who  are  said  by  him,  to  have  the  word  of  God,  and  to  bear 
the  testimony  of  Jesus.  The  revival  was  according  to  this 
view  of  it,  obviously  divine — the  great  work  of  God.  And 
in  it,  we  may  notice  the  following  characteristics. 

It  was  a  revival  of  sound  opinions — a  return  to  the  ancient 
faith.  It  was  not  a  new  discovery;  a  progress  in  the 
knowledge  of  God,  such  as  had  never  been  before  enjoyed, 
but  a  return  to  the  faith,  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 


H 


REVIVALS.  165 

It  was  in  the  next  place  a  revival  of  their  views  in  the 
way;  not  only  of  an  intellectual  conviction,  but  of  an  experi- 
mental acquaintance  with  the  truth,  so  that  the  faith  of  the 
converts  stood  not  in  the  wisdom  of  man,  but  in  much  assu- 
rance and  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  in  power.  The  advice  of 
Luther  to  Spalatin,  when  he  asked  him  what  was  the  best 
method  of  studying  the  Scriptures,  discovers  to  us  the  true 
secret  of  their  confidence  in  the  truth  of  their  principles  and 
why  those  principles  became  so  generally  prevalent  and  so 
mightily  operative.  "Hitherto  worthy  Spalatin,  (said 
Luther)  you  have  asked  only  things  I  was  able  to  answer. 
But  to  guide  you  in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  be- 
yond my  strength.  However,  if  you  insist  on  knowing  my 
method,  I  will  not  conceal  it  from  you." 

"It  is  most  plain  we  cannot  attain  to  the  understanding  of 
Scripture  either  by  study  or  by  strength  of  intellect ;  there- 
fore your  first  duty  must  be  to  begin  with  prayer.  Entreat 
the  Lord  to  deign  to  grant  you,  in  his  rich  mercy,  rightly  to 
understand  his  word.  There  is  no  other  interpreter  of  the 
word  of  God  but  the  author  of  that  word  himself ;  even  as 
He  has  said,  '  They  shall  all  be  taught  of  God.'  Hope  noth- 
ing from  your  study,  or  the  strength  of  your  intellect ;  but 
simply  put  your  trust  in  God,  and  in  the  guidance  of  his  Spirit. 
Believe  one  who  has  made  the  trial  of  this  method." 

Men  instructed  and  satisfied  in  their  scruples,  and  enlight- 
ened in  their  knowledge,  after  this  example,  could  not  hold 
the  truth  in  uncertainty,  or  in  unrighteousness,  but  must  have 
received  it  from  the  Spirit  and  under  his  purifying  and  sub- 
duing influences.  A  knowledge  of  the  gospel,  wherein  the 
understanding  and  the  heart,  are  fully  pursuaded  of  its  truth 
and  sweetness,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  presupposes  that  the  sub- 
jects of  it,  are  already  spiritual,  that  they  have  not  only  the 
form  but  the  life  and  power  of  godliness.  "  Blessed  art  thou 
Simon  Bar  Jonah,  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto 
thee  but  my  father  who  is  in  heaven." 


166        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  means  of  grace  in  use  were  primitive.  From  the  in- 
finitely multipled  new  doctrines  and  new  measures  of  Popery; 
all,  turned  back  to  the  word  of  God,  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  for  their  only  and  ever 
infallible  rule  of. faith  and  practice  ;  and  in  this  manner  the 
Reformers  became  the  propagators,  not  of  a  new  religion, 
but  of  a  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  in  its  simplicity, 
purity  and  glory.  No  well  informed  New  School  man  will 
pretend  for  a  moment  that  the  great  revivals  of  the  13th  and 
of  the  16th  centuries,  were  revivals  of  Pelagian  opinions. — 
Luther  and  Melanchton,  Zuingle  and  Calvin,  yea  the  whole 
host  of  worthies  from  Peter  Waldo  to  John  Knox,  condemn- 
ed the  errors  of  Pelagius,  as  included  among  the  Papal  abom- 
inations to  be  rejected  and  abhorred  by  every  convert  to  the 
gospel.  The  confession  of  faith  drawn  up  by  the  assembly  of 
divines  at  Westminister,  contains  a  beautiful  epitome  of  their 
united  testimony  on  the  subject  of  doctrinal  and  experimental 
Christianity  ;  and  hence  we  infer  that  a  revival  of  Pelagian- 
ism  is  not  a  revival  of  true  religion,  but  an  apostacy  from  it. 

The  millenium,  shall  be  a  resurrection  of  the  souls  of  those 
witnesses  who  were  beheaded  for  the  word  of  God  and  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  in  the  same  sense  in  which  Elijah, 
arose  from  the  dead,  in  the  reproduction  of  his  testimony  and 
spirit,  and  power,  in  John  the  Baptist.  As  John  was  the  fac- 
simile of  that  ancient  and  venerable  prophet  in  his  austerity, 
preaching,  zeal  and  faith,  so  the  great  reformations  appear- 
ing at  intervals,  from  the  13th  to  the  16th  centuries,  shall 
reappear,  and  the  reformers  long  since  dead,  shall  rise  again, 
in  the  vecy  countries  moistened  with  the  blood  of  their  tes- 
timony, and  renew  their  witness  bearing  in  men  who  shall 
truthfully  represent  them,  and  successfully  vindicated  their 
honor  and  spread  their  opinions.  •  The  millenium,  in  other 
words,  shall  be  a  great  revival  of  the  doctrines,  zeal,  love, 
and  piety  of  the  martyrs  and  witnesses  of  Jesus.  It  shall 
differ  in  no  respect,  from  the  revivals  of  other  days,  but  in 


REVIVALS.  167 

one  :  they  were  partial  and  confined  to  small  portions  of  the 
earth ;  this  shall  be  universal — extend  to  all  nations,  and  com- 
prehend them  all,  in  its  blessed  and  transforming  influences  ; 
all  shall  know  the  Lord  from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  The 
religion  of  the  millenium  shall  not  be  new  in  its  doctrines, 
nor  in  its  experimental  nature  and  effects,  but  the  same  an- 
cient faith  received,  experienced,  and  spread  by  the  apostles, 
and  reproduced  and  spread  by  a  divine  continuity  and  suc- 
cession in  doctrinal  and  vital  godliness,  and  carried  down  to 
that  blessed  day,  and  then  at  once,  or  in  a  very  brief  period 
made  universal. 

True  progress,  I  conclude  therefore,  will  be  backward  to 
the  old  Christianity  of  the  primitive  churches,  and  to  their 
identical  faith,  as  set  forth  in  the  catechisms  and  primers  and 
confessions  of  faith,  of  the  martyrs  and  reformers  and  wit- 
nesses of  Jesus  in  subsequent  ages.  The  apostles,  shall  be 
enthroned  in  every  true  revival,  in  their  despised  and  hated 
creed,  and  the  rejected  and  murdered  witnesses,  shall  be  had 
in  universal  honor.  '  The  new  divinity,  being  a  most  glaring 
and  wide  departure  from  the  ancient  faith,  is  undoubtedly  an 
apostacy,  not  a  progress — is  a  revival  of  false  religion  and 
not  of  the  true,  and  it  will  never  receive  countenance,  when 
Paul  again  rises  from  the  dead,  in  the  renewal  of  his  testimo- 
ny to  the  Romans,  to  the  Galatians,  to  the  Hebrews  ;  when 
Waldo,  and  Wickliff,  and  Huss,  and  Luther,  and  Calvin,  and 
Knox,  when  Latimer  and  Ridley  and  Rogers,  when  the  whole 
armv  of  the  reformers  rise  again  from  the  dead,  and  begin 
again  effectually  to  spread  those  doctrines  of  grace,  in  the 
faithful  propagation  of  which,  they  counted  not  their  lives 
dear  unto  themselves.  Finney,  and  Barnes,  and  Beman  and 
Beecher,  will  surely  make  but  a  sorry  appearance  in  the 
hands  of  these  sons  of  Abraham.  In  them  we  shall  see  again 
exalted  in  power  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  much  assu- 
rance, the  great  doctrines  of  election,  of  irresistable  grace, 
of  vicarious  atonement,  of  original  sin,  and  natural  depravity, 


168  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

of  justification,  imputation  and  of  human  inability.  In  like 
manner  as  the  Pharisees,  received  no  countenance  from  Elijah 
when  his  principles,  purity,  and  zeal,  had  a  resurrection  in 
John  the  Baptist,  so  shall  the  new  divinity,  receive  no  coun- 
tenance when  a  revival  of  true  religion  shall  appear  again  in 
the  churches. 

Many  of  these  ancient  worthies,  have  in  Scotland,  already 
broken  the  slumber  of  ages  and  the  lids  of  their  coffins  ;  have 
thrown  aside  their  winding  sheets,  have  renewed  the  vital 
current  of  their  blood,  and  the  vigor  of  their  youthful  days, 
and  are  again  abroad  to  revive  the  testimony  of  the  martyrs, 
and  witnesses,  of  Jesus,  and  therefore  mighty  works  do  show 
forth  themselves.  Not  only  Erastian,  but  Pelagian  error  is 
fully  condemned  ;  the  gospel  is  preached  in  its  primitive  free- 
dom and  simplicity,  the  effect  is  truly  cheering ;  the  dead 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  and  they  that  hear,  live. 
It  is  indeed  a  revival  of  religion,  in  its  truth,  spirit,  and  pow- 
er. The  old  Puritans  of  New  England,  also  have  broken  the 
dreary  silence  of  the  church-yard  ;  they  cannot  rest  in  their 
graves.  The  liberalism  and  Pelagianism  of  their  degenerate 
sons,  make  their  bones  ache  in  their  coffins.  Some  have 
already  made  their  appearance  among  the  living,  and  the  re- 
vival of  their  glorious  gospel  testimony  is  begun.  The  cry 
that  their  views  are  antiquated  and  that  they  are  men  far 
behind  the  age,  is  calculated  to  make  them  prominent  and  to 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  church  ;  because  the  progress  of 
the  age  is  seen  to  be,  not  upward  towards  the  mountain  of 
the  Lord's  house,  but  downward  from  the  blessed  elevations 
of  Mount  Zion.  And  in  our  own  beloved  church,  the  revival 
has  also  commenced,  the  testimony  of  Jesus  is  extensively 
reproduced,  the  witnesses  revive  even  in  their  recorded  ex- 
positions of  the  faith,  and  their  living  voice  is  likewise  ex- 
tensively heard  and  honored.  The  new  philosophy  and  new 
divinity  have  generally  fallen  into  disrepute,  and  the  inquiry 
now  is  for  the  old  paths  and  the  old  way.     No  prospects  of 


REVIVALS.  169 

increasing  numbers  and  wealth,  will  lead  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  regret  her  solemn  "  act  and  testimony/'  and  to 
take  back  again  her  disowned  Synods,  until  she  is  previously 
convinced,  that  they  have  solemnly  repudiated  their  errors 
and  returned  to  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 

This  revival  is  to  a  great  extent,  experimental,  as  well  as 
doctrinal.  I  am  acquainted  with  many  in  the  ministry,  who 
having  been  led  partially  astray  by  the  new  divinity,  have 
again  returned  and  have  received  the  truth  in  greater  assur- 
ance, than  before  their  temporary  wandering  from  the  way, 
and  I  do  certainly  believe,  that  to  as  great  an  extent  as  in 
any  church  on  earth,  the  ancient  doctrine  is  received  and 
preached,  because  its  truth  and  beauty  are  seen  and  its  sanc- 
tifying power  is  felt  among  us.  If  revivals  of  religion  ori- 
ginate in  connection  with  this  blessed  gospel,  Old  School 
Presbyterians,  I  confidently  affirm,  will  be  the  last  to  ques- 
tion their  genuineness. 

But  Mormonism  has  its  revivals;  Christianism  has  its 
revivals  ;  Popery  has  its  revivals.  False  religion  comes 
with  all  power,  and  signs,  and  lying  wonders,  and  we 
are  forced  to  discriminate:  not  to  believe  every  spirit,  but 
to  try  the  spirits,  whether  they  are  of  God.  And  if  any 
man,  as  a  professed  teacher,  come  unto  us,  and  bring  not 
this  doctrine,  we  are  to  inquire  no  farther;  we  are  not  to  be 
influenced  by  the  excellency  of  his  character,  or  by  the 
greatness  of  his  parts;  for  Satan  is  talented,  and  transformed 
into  an  angel  of  light:  no  marvel,  then,  if  his  ministers  are 
transformed,  as  the  ministers  of  righteousness.  If,  therefore, 
anv  man  come  to  us  and  brine:  not  this  doctrine,  even  the 
doctrine  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  are  not  to  receive  him 
into  our  houses  of  worship,  as  a  religious  teacher,  nor  to  bid 
him  God-speed,  as  such,  for  he  that  biddeth  him  God-speed, 
by  countenancing  him,  and  furnishing  him  with  credentials, 
is  partaker  of  his  evil  deeds.  We  cannot  believe  that  a  re- 
vival of  old  heresies,  a  resurrection  of  Cerinthus,  Arius,  Pe- 


170  OLD  AND  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

lagius  and  Socinus,  in  living  representatives,  in  the  churches, 
can  be  a  revival  of  true  religion.  However  much  they  may 
boast  of  their  new  discoveries,  and  superior  sanctity,  though 
they  may  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  proselytes,  and 
surround  themselves  with  new  measures,  and  new  converts, 
in  great  numbers,  yet  we  have  not  so  learned  Christ,  and 
are  not  to  be  deceived  by  specious  appearances.  When  we 
see  the  Spirit  undervalued  and  set  aside,  except  in  name, 
and  the  Son  dishonored  in  his  reconciliation,  and  depravity 
denied,  and  human  ability,  and  men  and  measures  exalted; 
the  work  of  religious  reformation,  however  wide-spread  and 
imposing,  is  not  of  God,  but  is  a  fearful  apostacy  from  a 
primitive  Christianity,  and  will  end  in  popery,  or  infidelity,  or 
in  some  other  form  of  ultimate  evil,  to  which  it  tends. 

If  it  be  urged,  that  during  these  seasons,  there  have  been 
hitherto  several  genuine  conversions  to  Christ,  I  reply,  that 
it  is  because  of  the  truth  preached  by  faithful  ministers,  scat- 
tered among  the  false,  and  because  of  the  soundness  of  the 
communicants,  generally,  in  their  prayers,  experience,  and 
conversation,  during  the  progress  of  the  excitement;  and 
if  these  had  been  men  of  a  different  character,  and  had 
all  taught  and  prayed  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  new  divinity, 
from  the  first  commencement  of  the  religious  awakening,  it 
wrould  have  been,  from  the  beginning,  worthless  in  its  fruits. 
As  soon,  therefore,  as  a  separation  has  been  effected  between 
the  friends  of  the  old,  and  new  opinions,  there  has  appeared 
also,  an  entire  change  in  the  character  of  the  converts:  the 
churches  have  became  speedily  filled  with  unrenewed  men, 
who  decry  the  gospel  and  its  godly  and  conscientious  defend- 
ers, and  heap  to  themselves  teachers,  having  itching  ears. — 
The  declension  was  never  greater,  in  vital  religion,  than  at 
the  present  moment,  among  ail  those  who  fully  receive,  and 
understandingly  endorse  the  new  divinity.  It  is  the  ele- 
ment of  growing  discord,  and  of  inevitable  decline  and  con- 
sumption. A  true  revival  began  here,  eighteen  years  ago,  but 


REVIVALS.  171 

the  new  divinity  revived  with  the  old,  and  swept,  like  the 
mournful  simoom,  over  the  churches;  before  it — was  the  gar- 
den of  Eden;  behind  it — life  and  verdure  lie  buried  in  the  ob- 
livion of  a  spiritual  desert. 

Neither  in  the  apostolic  ministry  of  the  primitive  church, 
nor  among  the  witness-bearers  in  the  wilderness,  were  there 
found,  any,  deemed  good  men  and  true,  who  affirmed  that 
"  Christ  did  not  suffer  the  curse  of  the  law,  nor  any  part  of 
it:"  that  imputed  righteousness  is  a  phrase  which  con- 
veys no  intelligible  idea:"  that  "justice,  in  its  common  and 
appropriate  sense,  was  not  satisfied  by  the  atonement;"  that 
faith,  irrespective  of  its  relation  to  "  the  righteousness  of  the 
Messiah,"  is  reckoned  for  our  righteousness:  that  original 
sin  is  false  philosophy,  and  native  depravity,  an  error  of  the 
schools:  that  man  has  ability  to  keep  the  law  of  God,  with- 
out divine  aid,  can  make  himself  a  new  heart,  and  does  do  it, 
whenever  it  is  made:  that  subjective  and  almighty  influences, 
in  regeneration,  break  in  upon  the  established  laws  of  a  mor- 
al government,  and  destroy  its  very  nature,  and  that  hence, 
regeneration  is  neither  a  miracle  nor  a  mystery,  but  the  simple 
persuasion  of  a  man  to  correct  his  mistakes,  and  live  a  re- 
formed life,  and  that,  too,  just  in  that  degree  in  which  these 
things  lie  within  the  compass  of  his  natural,  unassisted  abil- 
ity. No  such  doctrines  were  taught  in  the  first  century;  but 
they  were  testified  against,  as  destructive  errors,  by  the  Holy 
Apostles  of  the  Lamb.  No  such  doctrines  were  held  by  the 
witnesses  of  Jesus,  in  the  wilderness;  the  three  angels,  who 
flew  successively  through  the  midst  of  heaven,  having  the 
everlasting  gospel  to  preach  to  the  slumbering  nations,  cried 
aloud  against  these  ruinous  delusions,  until  the  shaft  of  per- 
secution reached  their  hearts,  and  they  folded  their  golden 
pinions,  and  sank  down  on  Mt.  Zion,  with  their  eloquent  voices 
choaked  in  blood.  And  whenever  a  revival  of  true  religion 
agaih  occurs,  in  any  age,  or  country,  they  will  again  come  to 
life,  and  rise,  and  fly,  and  bear  again,  unchanged,  the  same 
blessed  and  quickening  evangelical  testimony 


172        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  new  divinity  then,  is  another  gospel,  an  apostacy 
from  the  faith,  and  the  revivals  connected  with  its  progress, 
are  revivals  of  a  spurious  Christianity.  However  true  it  may 
be,  that  individuals  do  truly  experience  a  saving  change, 
during  their  temporary  sway,  yet  the  conversions  were  not 
wrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  view  of  the  eroneous  teach- 
ings, but  in  spite  of  their  lethargic  and  soul  destroying  pow- 
er. Did  ever  an  apostle  in  language  like  the  following, 
undervalue  the  work  of  the  Spirit  and  say,  "  Not  much  less 
deluding,  are  the  systems  and  tactics  of  those  wTho  fearing 
to  invade  the  province  of  the  Spirit,  are  careful  to  remind 
the  sinner  that  he  is  utterly  unable  by  his  own  unassisted 
powers,  either  to  believe  or  to  repent,  to  the  saving  of  his 
soul.  It  might  as  truly  be  said  that  he  cannot  rise  and  walk 
by  his  own  unassisted  powers."  (DuffiekTs  work  on  Regen- 
eration, p.  542.)  Sentiments,  such  as  these,  they  never 
uttered,  nor  did  they  countenance  those  that  did,  but  with 
solemn  awe  and  deep  felt  self  abasement,  they  confessed,  and 
denied  not,  that  of  themselves,  they  could  do  nothing,  that 
to  will  was  present  with  them,  but  that  how  to  perform  that 
which  was  good  they  found  not,  that  when  they  were  with- 
out strength  in  due  time  Christ  died  for  the  ungodly. — 
And  as  revivals  of  religion  are  produced  in  connection 
with  the  means  of  grace,  by  the  supernatural  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  we  may  conclude  justly,  that  those  who  make 
light  of  his  indispensable  agency,  and  maintain  that  men  are 
fully  able  to  repent  and  believe  without  it — decry  those  who 
revere  his  power  and  glory  in  the  new  creation,  and  that 
too,  because  they  fear  to  take  his  glory  from  him,  fear,  "to 
invade  the  province  of  the  Spirit" — that  such  men  are  far 
from  resembling  the  apostles  of  the  Lamb,  and  do  as  truly 
undervalue  their  views,  as  they  undervalue  ours. 

Revivals  of  religion  promoted  by  the  utterance  of  such 
sentiments,  in  which  men  are  told  that,  "  if  the  sinner  ever 
has  a  new  heart,  he  must  obey  the  command  of  the  text,  and 


REVIVALS.  173 

go  and  make  it  himself."  (Finney's  sermons  on  important 
subjects,  p.  p.  18,  38.)  That  God  "  requires  a  service  strictly 
according  to  our  ability  and  to  be  measured  by  that,  (that) 
he  demands  no  more  than  our  powers  are  fitted  to  produce, 
no  more  than  we  are  able  to  render,  (that)  our  obligations  in 
all  cases  are  limited  by  our  ability,"  (Barnes'  notes,  2  Cor. 
8,  12.)  Revivals  of  religion  advanced  by  such  instructions 
if  they  correspond  in  their  character  with  the  character  of 
this  new  and  strange  gospel,  will  be  revivals  of  natural  reli- 
gion merely,  the  work  of  man  alone  and  not  at  all  the  work 
of  the  blessed  and  insulted  Spirit.  If  faith  is  not  the  gift  of 
God,  not  a  principle  implanted  in  the  mind  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
by  which  we  receive  the  righteousness  of  the  Messiah,  but 
an  act  of  the  mind,  "If  God  promises,  man  believes,  and  this 
is  the  whole  of  it ;  (Barnes'  notes)  then  the  faith  begotten  in 
the  revival,  if  it  correspond  with  this  view  of  its  nature,  is 
also  the  work  of  man  ;  a  merely  natural,  mental  action. 
And  this  is  equally  true  of  repentance,  and  every  other 
grace,  if  they  are  not  the  gracious  productions  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  are  the  mere  exercises  of  the  natural  heart,  then 
the  religion  possessed  by  the  new  converts,  is  not  spiritual, 
but  natural,  and  it  is  as  true  of  them  as  it  ever  was,  that 
they  are  natural  men  still,  and  discern  not  the  things  of  the 
spirit  of  God,  and  except  they  are  born  again,  cannot  see  his 
kingdom.  When  men  are  told  that  they  are  not  to  get  reli- 
gion, not  to  experience  it,  not  to  get  a  new  heart,  but  to  love 
God  with  just  such  a  heart  as  they  now  have,  (i.  e.)  with  the 
natural  heart,"  that  God  requires  a  service  strictly  according 
to  our  ability  and  to  be  limited  by  that  ;"  it  is  absurd  under 
such  a  gospel  to  call  the  conversions,  the  work  of  the  Spirit, 
the  converts,  spiritual  and  the  revival,  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  for  the  plain  reason,  that  its  very  promoters  and 
the  authorized  expositors  of  its  nature,  convey  a  totally  dif- 
ferent idea,  and  maintain  substantially,  that  it  is  the  work  of 
man,  performed  and  limited  by  his  natural  ability. 


174      OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

When  awakened  sinners  ask,  what  thev  shall  do  to  be 
saved,  and  they  are  not  told  to  seek  for  a  new  heart;  for  a 
supernatural  change  to  be  wrought  in  them  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  to  connect  them  by  faith  with  the  justifying 
righteousness  of  Christ,  but  to  resolve  to  serve  God;  and 
this  resolution,  or  this  governing  purpose,  is  said  to  be  a 
change  of  heart,  and  to  be  all  that  is  required;  ginners  them- 
selves are  amazed  at  the  breadth  of  the  gate  that  leads  to 
life,  and  the  ease  with  which  they  can  become  christians. 
They  had  supposed  before  that  the  gate  was  strait,  but  this 
was  in  their  simplicity,  and  under  the  old  fashioned  theology. 
They  had  been  looking  and  praying  for  assistance  from  him, 
without  whom,  they  had  once  been  taught,  "  they  could  do 
nothing,"  but  this  they  now  have  discovered  was  a  great  er- 
ror, for  they  have  now  accomplished  their  regeneration  with 
the  utmost  facility.  They  had  hitherto  looked  beyond  mere 
nature  for  help,  and  had  depended  on  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
enable  them  to  repent  and  believe,  but  they  have  now  learn- 
ed that  it  might  as  truly  be  said,  "  that  man  could  not  arise 
and  walk  by  his  own  unassisted  powers,"  they  could  do,  and 
had  done,  both  the  one  and  the  other,  in  their  own  strength, 
they  were  really  natural  actions  and  easily  put  forth.  Hence 
the  revival  is,  in  this  aspect  of  it,  not  a  revival  of  true  reli- 
gion, but  a  revival  in  men  of  an  extraordinary  self-compla- 
cency  and  self-reliance,  and  of  contempt  for  the  aid  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  inquiry  room  and  the  anxious  seat,  suffi- 
ciently harmless  in  themselves,  and  when  employed  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  convenient  access  to  those  who  desire  per- 
sonal instruction  and  conversation,  become,  in  these  seasons,  of 
spurious  religious  excitement,  the  principal  places  for  effort 
against  the  doctrines  of  grace.  Every  objection  raised  by  the 
awakened  sinner,  on  the  ground  of  his  inability  to  change 
his  own  heart,  is  met  by  a  denial  of  its  truth;  every  objection 
raised  on  the  ground  of  his  dependence  on  the  Holy  Spirit, 
is  met  by  a  denial  of  such  dependence,   and  he  is  required 


RIVIVALS.  175 

then,  and  there,  to  change  his  governing  purpose,  or  to  submit 
to  God,  which  means  in  the  mouths  of  these  teachers  the 
same  thing,  and  when  he  consents  to  do  it,  the  poor  deluded 
creature  is  dedicated  in  a  formal  prayer,  and  in  a  most  solemn 
manner  to  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  as  a  child  of  God. 
and  sent  out  in  the  capacity  of  a  new  convert,  to  convert 
others  to  the  same  delusion,  to  wonder  at  the  great  discove- 
ries of  modern  times,  at  the  width  of  the  gate,  and  the 
breadth  of  the  way,  that  leadeth  unto  life;  and  to  be  amazed 
at  the  stupidity  of  old-fashioned  Presbyterians,  and  at  his 
own  former  ignorance,  in  which  he  had  erroneously  supposed 
regeneration  to  be  a  supernatural  change,  and  not  a  mere 
natural  action,  and  performed  with  the  utmost  facility,  and  at 
a  moment's  warning  by  the  creature  himself. 

Out  of  this  view  of  the  subject  arises  another,  viz  :  that 
the  ministry  is  responsible  for  its  success,  and  that,  if  men 
had  as  much  leisure  all  the  year  as  they  enjoy  in  the  winter  sea- 
son revivals  might  be  perpetuated  throughout  the  year,  and  in 
any  event,  they  can  be  produced  at  pleasure  by  the  church ; 
and  with  these  low  views  of  revivals  the  opinion  is,  doubt- 
less, correct.  It  needs,  but  to  commence  a  protracted  meet- 
ing for  the  purpose,  and  then  systematically  to  assail  the  old 
theology,  respecting  human  inability  and  depravity,  and  to 
convince  the  hearers  that  a  resolution  to  serve  God  is  regen- 
eration, and  that  each  one  can  change  his  heart  as  easily  as 
he  can  rise  and  walk,  and  if  the  community  have  not  been 
too  frequently  assailed  and  deceived  in  this  way,  the  usual 
phenomena  will  follow,  and  protestants  will  abound  in  all 
the  outward  semblances  of  religion,  and  work  as  earnestly 
to  enter  heaven  in  the  use  of  the  new  measures,  and  by  their 
own  righteousness,  as  the  Romanists.  But  great  revivals  of 
religion  in  which  the  work  of  the  Son  and  Spirit  are  set 
aside  excepting  in  name,  and  men  and  measures  are  exalted  and 
made  to  occupy  their  places — are  not  the  blessed,  and  power- 
ful, and  purifying  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  in  the  midst 


176        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

of  them  it  behoves  us  to  attend  to  the  Apostolic  admonition' 
"  Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try  the  spirits  wheth- 
er they  be  of  God,  for  many  false  prophets  are  going  out 
into  the  world." 

It  will  bo  seen,  then,  that  our  objections  are  not  against 
the  New  School,  because  they  hold  meetings  which  last 
several  days.  The  meeting  of  Hezekiah  was  protracted. 
Protracted  meetings  are  very  common  among  Old  School 
Presbyterians,  at  their  sacramental  services,  and  have  fre- 
quently been  attended  with  revivals  of  a  marked  and  desir- 
able character — Revivals,  in  which  the  doctrines  of  total 
depravity,  human  inability,  imputation,  atonement,  election,, 
and,  in  fine,  in  which  all  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  gospel 
were  fully  and  ably  exhibited  and  defended.  It  is  not  the 
continuance  of  a  meeting  through  several  successive  days, 
against  which  we  object,  but  it  is  the  denial  of  the  gospel,  and 
the  spread  of  error,  and  the  ruin  of  souls  by  this  means,  which 
awakens  our  regret,  and  calls  forth  our  solemn  remonstrance 
against  those  whose  deceived  heart  hath  turned  them  aside. 

Old  Schoolism,  and  a  Laodecean  indifference  to  all  religion, 
have  come  in  many  quarters  to  signify  substantially  the  same 
thing.  It  is  not,  however,  the  zeal  of  those  who  compass 
sea  and  land,  to  make  proselytes,  but  the  errors  which  they 
so  industriously  spread,  against  which  we  testify.  It  is  good 
always  to  be  zealously  affected  in  a  good  thing,  but  great 
talent,  zeal  and  effort  expended  in  subverting  whole  church- 
es, and  in  the  dissemination  of  fatal  error,  is  a  melancholy 
spectacle  to  look  upon,  and  he  that  loves  the  master  and 
the  souls  of  men  will  not  be  able  to  hold  his  peace,  even 
though  he  may  be  sure,  for  years,  to  be  extensively  misun- 
derstood by  his  friends,  and  bitterly  denounced  by  his  enemies. 

We,  then,  are  not  opposed  to  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Christ. 
The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us:  a  friend  may  bear  with 
a  friend's  infirmities,  and  die  in  his  defence,  but  Christ  bears 
with    his  imbittered  foes;   bears  with  their  vile  reproach, 


REVIVALS.  177 

encounters  their  scorn  and   rage,  and  sinks  with  a  broken 
heart,  and  in  bloody  agony  to  the  grave,  to  deliver  them 
from  death  and  hell;  and  can  we,  whose  sins  were  laid  upon 
him,  be  indifferent  to  a  love  like  this?     Even  the  hardened 
Saul  was  overcome  by  the  kindness  of  David;    and  can  we 
remain  indifferent  to  a  love  which  infinitely  surpasses  the 
love  of  David?     Can  we  turn,  in  cold  neglect,  from  the  gar- 
den and  the  cross,  from  scenes  which  affected  the  material 
universe,  and  made  the  stones  to  cry  out;  and  act  in  accord- 
ance with  those  laws  of  spiritual  life  which  are  implanted  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  deep  in  the  christian  nature  1     Nay — the 
emotions  of  love  and  gratitude  are  spontaneous  and  irrepres- 
sible; they  swim  in  the  moistened   eye,  and  throb  in  the 
strong  sympathies  of  the  renovated  heart.     Who  among  us, 
therefore,  believing,  as  we  do,  respecting  the  love  of  Christ, 
can  enter  the  desk,  and  exchange    the   inspiration   of  the 
christian,  for  the  coolness  of  a  philosopher,  and  deliberately 
show  how  little  Christ  has  done  for  us,  when  we  believe  that 
he  meets  every  want,  relieves  every  difficulty,  bears  every 
burden,  and  comprehends,  in  his  finished  work,  our  eternal 
redemption.     Others  may  do  this — may  speak  disparagingly 
of  him — may    represent    that,  he    "merely"    did  this,    and 
"barely"  did  that — may  move  on  without  emotion,  in  every 
discourse  respecting  Jesus,  be  as  dull  as  lead  and  as  cold  and 
cheerless,  to  listening  disciples,  as  the  moonlit  shadows  of  the 
cemetery  that  steal  into  the  vaults  and  sleep  upon  the  pale 
faces  of  the  dead;  but  can  we,  who  make  Christ. all,  and  in 
all,  pursue  a  course  so  inconsistent  with  our  views  of  his 
wonderful  and  affecting  relations  to  us,  and  of  our  infinite 
debt  of  gratitude  to  him  ]     Others  may  deny  that  he  bore 
the  curse  of  the  law;  that  he  wrought  for  us  a  justifying 
righteousness;  may  deny  original  sin  and  natural  depravity; 
discourse  of  human  ability  and  measure  obligation   by  it; 
represent  a  change  of  heart,  to  be  a  change  of  purpose; 
Christianity  to   be   purely  intellectual,   a   stranger   and   an 

12 


178        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

enemy  to  the  emotions;  and  may  depend  upon  exciting  tales, 
and  measures,  and  human  appliances,  and  the  fears  of  hell, 
to  ensure  success,  and  to  surround  themselves  with  followers; 
hut  God  forbid  that  we  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Those  who  depend  upon  human  ability, 
and  the  horrors  of  hell,  without  the  cross,  may  make  con- 
verts, but  will  they  be  instrumental  in  making  men  christians'? 
Ham,  was  not  restrained  from  making  a  mock  at  sin  by  a 
wrath  that  swept  fifteen  cubits  above  the  loftiest  mountains. 
The  shower  of  fire,  enraged  with  brimstone,  did  not  make 
the  daughters  of  Lot  chaste.  Idolators,  were  not  restrained 
from  their  infernal  orgies,  and  sacrifices,  and  re  veilings; 
even  when  Sinai  was  all  on  fire,  and  the  everlasting  mount- 
ains were  scattered,  and  the  perpetual  hills  did  bow.  The 
tents  of  Cushan  were  in  affliction;  the  curtains  of  the  land 
of  Midian  did  tremble;  the  lips  of  even  the  hardened  Pha- 
roah  quivered  at  the  voice  of  God,  and  rottenness  entered 
into  the  bones  of  the  brave  around  him,  amid  those  appall- 
ing visitations  which  filled  a  kingdom  with  alarm  and  despair, 
yet  still  omnipotence  is  pursued  by  these  very  men  and  de- 
fied, in  the  very  heart  of  that  sea,  which  had  uttered  its 
voice  at  the  awful  presence,  and  lifted  up  its  hands  on  high. 
The  bolt  of  heaven  may  plunge  upon  the  face  of  the  rock, 
'On  the  mountain's  brow,  and  send  its  smo.uldering  fragments 
to  the  vale  below,  but  though  broken,  it  will  remain  adamant 
still :  terror  may  break  the  courage,  but  it  cannot  melt  the 
heart.  Popery  can  open  the  crater  of  her  purgatory  and 
bring  back  the  death  wail  of  the  departed  to  the  ears  of  the 
living,  and  drain  the  coffers  of  princes,  and  the  purses  of  the 
peasantry,  among  otherwise  enlightened  nations;  but  it  can- 
not close  the  door  of  the  brothel,  nor  purify  and  elevate  a 
kingdom  which  is  full  of  darkness.  Men  will  go  from  their 
gloomiest  reveries  of  hell  to  sport  with  their  own  deceivings, 
to  kiss  the  mouth  of  the  pit,  and  to  wanton  with  fire  and 
death:  nothing  will  avail  except  Christ  be  created  in  them 


REVIVALS.  179 

the  hope  of  glory.  They  may  be  trained  to  part  with  wealth,  to 
sleep  in  sackcloth;  to  ascend  Pilate's  staircase  on  their  knees; 
to  go  on  pilgrimages;  to  take  the  vows  of  celibacy,  and  of 
poverty;  to  take  the  anxious  seat;  to  kneel  in  the  mire;  and 
to  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte;  but  a  reli- 
gion without  the  cross,  whether  Papal  or  Protestant,  is  a 
body  without  a  soul.  We,  therefore,  preach  Christ  "cruci- 
fied; to  the  Jews,  a  stumbling  block;  and  to  the  Greeks, 
foolishness;  but  to  every  one  that  believeth  the  power  of 
God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God.  The  gospel  is  indispensable; 
without  it  the  law  can  be  of  no  avail.  It  is  not  our  complaint, 
therefore,  that  the  New  School  have  too  much  zeal  in 
preaching  Christ;  on  the  contrary,  we  are  often  oppressed 
with  the  painful  apprehension  that  they  do  not  preach  him 
at  all.  If  they  preached  Christ  everywhere,  spake  with  the 
tongues  of  men,  and  of  angels,  and  moved  the  stones  to  cry 
out  from  the  walls  of  their  churches,  and  the  beam  from  the 
timber  to  answer  it,  and  to  shame  the  moral  insensibility  of 
their  hearers,  and  if  thousands  were  pricked  in  the  heart, 
and  cried,  men  and  brethren,  what  must  we  do  to  be  saved, 
and  repented  and  believed  the  gospel,  let  our  right  hand  for- 
get its  cunning,  and  our  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  our 
mouth,  if  we  would  gainsay  them. 

Nor  do  we  believe  that  ministers  can  watch  with  too  great 
diligence,  and  with  too  tender  a  solicitude  for  the  souls  of 
their  hearers,  as  those  that  must  give  account.  When  we 
have  respect  to  the  worth  of  the  soul,  and  see  unrenewed 
multitudes,  just  at  the  parting  point  between  two  eternities; 
some  constantly  ascending  to  the  ravishing  delights  of 
Eden,  and  others  constantly  descending,  "to  groan,  where 
their  groanings  end  not,  to  sigh,  where  their  sighs  do  always 
sigh,  and  to  weep  where  their  tears  do  always  fall  and  al- 
ways weep;  but  not  in  mercy's  sight,"  we  may  well  have 
"great  heaviness  and  continual  sorrow  in  our  hearts,"  and 
"warn  every  man,  night  and  day,  with  tears."     If  accused 


180  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

of  fanaticism,  or  madness,  it  would  be  a  sufficient  vindication 
to  say,  "if  we  are  beside  ourselves  at  the  danger  encounter- 
ed by  those  who  sport  on  the  crumbling  verge  of  the  bottom- 
less pit;"  it  is  for  your  sakes,  because  we  know  you  cannot 
abide  the  wrath  you  provoke;  because  we  would  win  you 
back  from  gaining  such  infinite  harm  and  loss.  Other  losses 
may  be  repaired — this  never.  The  winding-sheet  of  a  ruined 
soul  is  made  from  the  iron  folds  of  a  miserable  eternity. 
The  grave  of  a  lost  spirit  is  a  yawning  hell;  its  companion, 
despair;  its  worm,  dieth  not;  its  fire  is  never  quenched. 
Xerxes  beheld  his  army  in  living  masses,  crowding  the  plains 
around  him,  and  stretching  far  as  his  eye  could  reach,  and 
wept  when  he  thought  how  soon  that  mighty  host  would  be- 
come powerless,  and  their  formidable  ranks  be  broken  and 
buried  in  the  oblivion  of  the  grave.  And  a  greater  than  he 
beheld  the  city,  beautifnl'for  situation,  and  teeming  with  life 
and  thought  how  soon  it  would  be  wasted  without  inhabi- 
tant, and  its  guilty  children  buried  underneath  its  subverted 
walls,  and  descending  towers,  and  wept,  and  said,  "  oh,  that 
thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  in  this  thy  day,  the  things 
that  belong  to  thy  peace,  but  now  they  are  forever  hid  from 
thine  eyes;"  and  may  we  not  have  tears  to  shed,  and  consist- 
ently join  in  the  lamentation  over  the  millions  who  are  ready 
to  perish  ? 

It  is  not,  then,  because  men  weep  over  the  ruins  of  the 
fall,  and  abound  in  warning  their  hearers  of  approaching 
wrath,  and  in  expostulations,  and  appeals,  and  efforts  to  turn 
them  from  their  destrctive  ways;  this  is  a  course  justfiable 
when  properly  regulated,  and  highly  commendable  in  every 
minister  of  Christ;  "Knowing,  therefore,  the  terrors  of  the 
Lord,  we  also  persuade  men:"  but  when,  in  their  zeal  to 
save,  they  destroy,  grieve  and  dishonor  the  Spirit,  in  his 
work,  set  aside  the  institution  of  justice,  and  the  principal 
glory  of  the  cross  in  honoring  it,  their  very  successes  give 
us  pain,  and  we  cannot  but   regard  their  instructions,  and 


REVIVALS.  181 

their  highly  popular  works  or*  regeneration  and  atonement, 
and  their  notes  on  the  Bible,  as  a  sad  aggregate  of  evil  influ- 
ences, destined  to  operate  widely  and  permanently,  in 
strengthening  and  perpetuating  the  very  woes,  which  their 
misguided  authors  intended  to  prevent  and  remove.  The 
course  of  error  is  ever  progressive;  its  successive  converts 
ultimately  turn  its  early  twilight  into  intense  darkness.  The 
generations  that  rise,  and  become  educated  in  the  opinions  of 
Duffield,  Beman,  Barnes,  and  Finney,  will  not  tarry  long 
in  the  sight  of  their  more  sober  masters,  but  will  find  their 
way  to  a  distance  from  the  gospel,  far  more  dreary  and 
hopeless  than  they.  The  evil  is  already  at  work,  and  will 
mark  out  for  itself  its  own  highway  of  ruin.  Those  who  have 
given  it  its  origin  and  tendency,  cannot  control  or  direct  its 
progress:  error  is  the  loosened  avalanche;  it  will  reach  the 
vale  below,  and  those  who  put  it  in  motion,  however  much 
they  may  subsequently  regret  the  course  they  have  taken, 
cannot  arrest  it.  midway,  till  the  endangered  and  trembling 
villager  can  make  his  escape, — its  plunge  is  downward,  ac- 
celerated and  remorseless, — its  resting-place  is  in  blood. 

It  is  not,  then,  matter  of  regret  with  us,  to  see  the  votaries 
of  ambition,  and  wealth,  and  fashion,  and  pleasure,  pause, 
and  turn  pale,  and  become  filled  with  remorse  for  the  past, 
and  fears  for  the  future,  and  quit  their  pursuits,  for  days  to- 
gether, to  attend  to  the  interests  of  their  souls.  A  king  did 
this,  and  his  courtiers  and  his  subjects  followed  his  example, 
in  a  solemn  fast  of  three  days,  because  God  had  said,  "  in 
forty  days,  and  Ninevah  shall  be  destroyed;"  and  we  should 
rejoice  to  see  cities  and  nations  again  follow  that  example,  and 
men  forget  to  labor,  and  forget  to  eat  their  bread;  and  ships 
ride  at  anchor,  unmaned,  and  shops  close  along  the  streets 
of  crowded  cities,  and  the  plough  and  the  spade  lie  still,  and 
the  hum  of  business,  and  the  song  of  the  reaper,  over  whole 
countries,  become  hushed  in  a  Sabbath  stillness,  and  nations 
be  born  in  a  day.     It  is  not  in  the  fact,  that  men  attempt  to 


182  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  but  in  the  fact  that  their  souls 
are  in  peril,  when  they  do  flee,  in  consequence  of  the  instruc- 
tions which  depreciate  the  only  remedy,  and  throw  them 
back  upon  their  own  resources  for  salvation;  it  is  not  be- 
cause they  are  pointed  to  the  bleeding  cross,  as  prisoners  of 
hope,  but  because  they  are  turned  away  from  it:  it  is  not 
because  they  are  assured,  that  they  must  be  born  again,  but 
because  they  are  assured  that  they  do  not  need  a  change  of 
nature,  but  only  a  change  of  purpose.  It  is,  in  a  word,  be- 
cause upon  all  the  vital  questions  of  Christianity,  the  truth  is 
mixed  with  fatal  error,  that  we  cannot  experience  those  emo- 
tions of  unmingled  joy,  which  w  e  should  have  felt,  were  men 
to  abandon  their  philosophy,  and  to  preach  the  gospel.  This 
would  awaken  confidence  in  their  labor,  and  joy  unspeakable 
over  their  success. 

We  object  then,  to  the  revivals  under  the  preaching  of  the 
new  divinity,  not  because  they  are  revivals  of  true  religion, 
for  in  these  we  sincerely  rejoice,  but  because  they  have  so 
many  marks  of  spuriousness — so  many  evidences  that  they 
are  the  mere  result  of  exciting  measures  and  anecdotes — the 
work  of  man,  and  not  the  work  of  God.  The  reasons  for 
this  judgment  have  been  already  given,  I  will  now  close 
with  a  summary  statement  of  them. 

1.  They  are  a  revival  of  old  heresies,  against  which  the 
spirit  testified  in  the  apostolic  ministry,  and  in  the  martyrs, 
and  reformers,  who  had  the  word  of  God,  and  the  testimony 
of  Jesus.  They  revive  the  heresy  that  "Christ  did  not  suffer 
the  curse  of  the  law,  nor  any  part  of  it,  and  that  he  has  not 
obeyed  the  law  vicariously."  This  is  an  old  Jewish  heresy, 
revived  afterward  by  Arius,  in  the  north,  and  by  Mahomet 
in  the  south,  and  by  Socinius,  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

2.  They  deny  original  sin,  and  native  depravity,  and  main- 
tain the  ability  of  man  to  keep  the  law  of  God  in  his  own 
strength  and  without  the  aid  of  the  spirit,  and  thus  revive 
the  old  heresy  of  the  Pharisees,  and  of  Pelagius  and  of  the 


REVIVALS.  183 

Papists,  on  these  points.  The  scroll  on  which  these  errors 
are  written,  never  had  the  image  and  superscription  of  the 
Son  ;  it  is  destined  to  the  flames  ;  the  Lord  shall  consume 
it  with  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  it  with  the  brigt- 
ness  of  his  coming.  The  revival  of  these  heresies  is  not  of 
God,  but  a  sad  apostacy  ;  and  however  they  may  be  for  a 
time  sustained,  by  all  power,  and  signs,  and  imposing  appear- 
ances, they  will  in  the  end,  increase  unto  more  ungodliness. 

3  They  are  not  the  result  of  divine  influences  (;  because 
God  does  not  renew  and  sanctify  by  means  of  error,  but  with 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus;  and  because  the  authors  of  them, 
in  several  ways,  indirectly  at  least,  teach  us,  that  they  are, 
or  may  be,  the  work  of  man,  as  for  instance  : — 

First.  In  teaching  that  a  supernatural  agency  is  not  neces- 
sary to  produce  them.  "  God,"  says  Mr.  Barnes,  "requires 
a  service  strictly  according  to  our  ability,  and  to  be  measured 
by  that."  Duflield  teaches  that  the  sinner  no  more  requires 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  enable  him  to  beleive  and  repent,  than  he 
requires  his  agency  to  enable  him  to  arise  and  walk.  Mr. 
Finney  says  that  "  if  the  sinner  wants  a  new  heart,  he  must 
go  and  make  it  himself."  A  revival  of  religion  originated 
and  conducted  on  these  principles,  is  human,  because  it  brings 
man  to  himself, — to  his  own  resources  for  redemption,  and 
not  exclusively  to  God  in  whom  alone  is  his  help. 

Second.  In  maintaining  that  regeneration  is  neither  "  a 
mystery,  nor  a  miracle,"  but  that  it  is  effected  by  moral  sua- 
sion, in  which  God  does  nothing  for  man,  that  he  cannot  and 
is  not  finally  persuaded  to  do  for  himself;  the  change  is  easily 
and  readily  wrought,  it  is  effected  by  the  sinner  in  view  of 
motives,  and  without  any  more,  or  other  assistance  than  is 
given  him  in  the  performance  of  any  natural  action.  There 
are  no  new  principles  imparted  by  the  Spirit  other  than  there 
is  to  a  drunkard  when  he  is  made  into  a  sober  man;  he  is  a 
new  creature;  the  change  is  sufficiently  great  to  justify 
this  language,  and  so  it  is  in  this  new  kind  of  regeneration. 


184  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

A  new  divinity  revival  is  therefore  wholly  the  work  of  man, 
or  it  is  as  much  so,  and  in  the  same  sense  as  plowing,  sowing, 
reaping,  and  joining  temperance  societies,  is  the  work  of  man. 
Men  are  induced  to  do  these  things  in  their  natural  strength 
and  in  view  of  motives,  and  in  the  same  manner  they  are  in- 
duced to  regenerate  themselves. 

Third.  In  teaching  that  faith,  and  repentance  are  not  the 
gift  of  God.  That  no  new  heart  is  communicated,  no  life 
imparted  to  the  sinner,  the  principle  of  which  he  did  not  have 
before,  and  could  not  originate  of  himself,  and  at  any  time 
without  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  this  according  to  them 
would  be  to  hold  that  man  was  physically  depraved,  physi- 
cally unable  to  obey  God  and  therefore  under  no  obligation 
to  do  it  "  and  none  but  a  tyrant"  could  demand  it  of  him.  A 
revival  in  which  these  errors  revive,  and  that  fashions  itself 
according  to  these  instructions  cannot  be  the  work  of  the 
Spirit,  but  is  a  revival  of  old  heresies,  the  result  of  natural 
ability  for  which  we  can  feel  no  veneration,  in  which  we  can 
repose  no  confidence,  and  which  carries  on  all  its  features 
the  signs  of  its  antichristian  origin,  of  its  earthly,  sensual,  and 
ruinous  tendencies.  Beloved,  believe  not  every  Spirit,  but 
try  the  spirits  whether  they  be  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


DOCTRINAL    DIFFERENCES    CONTINUED. 


Tendencies  of  the  new  divinity — The  new  divinity  rests  upon  one  or  at  moat 
two  assumptions,    both  of  which  are  false — Tends  to  infidelity. 


Great  apostacies  are  not  the  growth  of  a  day  ;  they  do 
not  reach  their  maturity  at  once,  but  like  the  leprosy  com- 
mencing at  the  extremities,  and  farthest  from  the  seat  of 
life,  they  spread  gradually  until  they  extend  through  the 
whole  system.  About  two  hundred  years  before  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era,  the  belief  became  prevalent  that 
Moses  delivered  two  codes  of  laws,  from  Mount  Sinai  to  the 
Hebrews.  One  in  writing,  and  the  other  orally.  And  when 
our  Lord  appeared  on  the  earth,  the  oral  had  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  of  higher  authority  than  the  written  law.  The 
insignificant  tradition  had  in  two  centuries  obtained  a  giant 
growth,  and  had  "  made  void  the  law  of  God."  Math.  xv.  6. 

The  celibacy  of  the  clergy  was  introduced  gradually,  and 
from  the  smallest  beginnings.  It  was  at  first  voluntary  ; 
then  it  came  to  be  admired  as  the  highest  evidence  of  per- 
sonal purity  ;  the  brightest  ornament  of  Christian  character. 
Afterward  it  passed  into  a  law  and  the  ministry  were  "  for- 
bidden Jo  marry." 

The  merit  of  good  works,  that  vast  mint  of  Rome,  in  which 
she  coins  all  her  gold,  and  by  which  she  opens  a  drain  upon 
the  wealth  of  nations,  is  a  dogma  which  arose  from  her  doc" 
trines  of  ability,  and  uncommanded  duties.  Her  saints  did 
all,  and  even  more,  than  was  required  in  the  word  of  God, 


186       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

and  then  followed  penances,  pilgrimages,  purgatory,  absolu- 
tions, and  indulgences,  until  a  rapacious  priest-hood  kept 
guard,  in  the  imaginations  of  the  people,  at  the  gates  of  Pan- 
demonium, and  shut  up,  or  liberated  at  their  pleasure  the 
souls  of  the  departed. 

'  I  need  not  however,  multiply  instances,  to  show  that  the 
decline  of  churches  is  gradual,  and  their  apostacy  insidious 
and  unexpected.  It  is  like  the  breach  of  waters,  drop  by  drop 
it  oozes  out,  and  frets  and  wears  and  widens  its  channel,  un- 
til its  rush  is  like  the  sea. 

We  have  met  with  a  treatise  on  the  nature  of  virtue,  in 
which  the  venerable  author  attempts  indepenently  of  divine 
revelation,  to  build  up  a  theory  on  this  subject,  which  by  its 
correspondence  with  the  word  of  God,  would  discover  to  us 
the  reasonableness  of  the  divine  law.  In  this  theory,  he 
teaches,  that  disinterested  benevolence  is  the  sum  of  all  vir- 
tue, and  selfishness,  the  sum  of  all  sin,  and  here  he  left  it, 
and  died  without  discovering  that  it  was  a  theory  at  vari- 
ance with  every  other  part  of  his  own  most  excellent  system 
of  theology. 

Dr.  Hopkins,  and  Dr.  Emmons,  took  up  this  error,  as- 
suming it  to  be  a  primary  and  incontrovertable  truth,  and 
followed  it  out  in  some  of  its  affinities,  and  instead  of  teach- 
ing according  to  the  blessed  gospel,  that  "  God  was  in  Christ, 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  tres- 
passes unto  them,"  (2  Cor.  v.  19.)  taught  that  God  required 
disinterested  benevolence,  or  such  a  love  to  God  as  would 
lead  us  to  be  willing  for  his  glory  to  be  his  enemy  forever, 
and  such  a  love  for  our  neighbor,  as  would  lead  us  to  be 
willing  to  take  his  place  in  hell.  Along  these  extreme  lines 
of  separation,  from  the  simplicity  of  truth,  many  have  in  con- 
sequence frequently  wasted  a  worse  than  barren  ministry, 
and  have  taught  themselves  and  their  hearers,  that  these 
hideous  metaphysical  creations,  were  of  the  very  essence  of 
true  religion,   whereas  scarcely  any  thing  could  have  been 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR  187 

conceived,  which  could  have  been  more  directly  opposite  to 
its  glorious  nature.  The  Apostles  taught,  that  men  should 
believe  in  a  God,  reconciled  in  Christ ;  but  they  taught  that 
men  must  submit  to  an  absolute  God.  The  former  taught, 
that  men  must  be  willing  to  be  saved  through  a  Redeemer, 
but  the  latter,  that  they  must  be  willing  to  be  damned  in  or- 
der to  salvation. 

Dr.  Edwards,  the  younger,  took  up  the  same  original  er- 
ror, on  the  nature  of  virtue ;  and  dividing  justice  into  three 
parts,  distributive,  commutative,  and  public,  made  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  to  meet  the  claims  of  the  latter  only,  and  to 
be  a  mere  matter  of  governmental  utility  and  safety,  or.  a 
grand  manifestation  of  disinterested  benevolence. 

Dr.  Taylor  and  Mr.  Finney,  starting  also  at  the  same 
point  of  departure,  and  following  out  the  same  error,  into  the 
new  affinities  of  which  its  prolific  nature  is  capable,  are  be- 
ginning to  wander  on  the  frigid  confines  of  Socinianism,  and 
have  already  entered  into  some  of  the  worst  forms  of  that 
apostacy. 

After  this  manner,  an  error  apparently  harmless  at  the  first, 
and  scarcely  one  hundred  years  old,  and  originating  with  a 
sound  divine,  and  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  of  men,  has 
been  gradually,  and  in  various  directions,  evolving  different 
and  cardinal  errors,  which  have  ultimately  mingled  and 
spread  into  vast  systems,  and  which  now  float,  with  their 
dark,  pestilential  vapors,  upon  Mount  Zion,  distributing  every 
where  the  elements  of  decline  and  death. 

Take,  for  example,  the  New  School  errors  on  atonement, 
and  turn  back  upon  their  source,  and  we  find  them  all  flowing 
from  a  single  fountain.  They  all  have  a  metaphysical,  not  a 
biblical  origin  ;  they  grow  from  philosphy,  falsely  so  called, 
and  not  from  the  inspirations  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "  There 
is  a  third  sense  in  which  the  term  justice,  is  frequently  used, 
and  the  consideration  of  which,  will  lead  us  directly  to  the 
nature  of  that  satisfaction  which  Jesus  Christ  has  made  for 


188  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

sinners.  We  mean,  what  is  commonly  denominated  general, 
or  public  justice.  In  order  to  distinguish  it,  both  from  pecu- 
niary and  legal  justice,  it  has  been  called  moral  justice.  In 
this  acceptation,  it  has  no  direct  reference  to  law,  but  embra- 
ces those  principles  of  virtue  or  benevolence,  by  which  we 
are  bound  to  govern  our  conduct,  and  by  which  God  himself 
governs  the  universe."  "In  introducing  this  system  of  mer- 
cy, which  involved  a  suspension  of  the  penal  curse,  God  has 
required  a  satisfaction  to  the  principles  of  public  or  general 
justice."  (See  Beman  on  atonement,  pp.  132 — 133.) 

The  atonement,  according  to  Dr.  Beman,  therefore,  satis- 
fies, not  the  law  of  God,  but  the  principle  of  benevolence, 
and  this  principle,  he  affirms,  has  no  direct  reference  to  law. 
On  this  point,  the  whole  system  of  the  new  divinity  hinges 
and  swings.  Through  this  gateway,  it  pours  its  legions  on 
the  church  of  God.  The  system  has  found,  in  the  doctrine 
of  disinterested  benevolence,  a  first  principle,  an  eternal  and 
an  immutable  truth,  and  it  boasts  and  swaggers,  and  hardens 
itself  against  the  testimony  of  Jesus.  Its  visitations  are  drea- 
ful;  the  out  pourings  of  ever  accumulating  evils.  It  loses  all 
veneration,  and  as  it  is  endorsed  by  a  great  name,  and  claims 
to  be  a  first  principle;  it  assumes  that  it  cannot  be  wrong,  and 
it  assails,  without  any  misgivings,  whatsoever  may  fall  in  its 
way.  Violated  law,  and  injured  justice,  according  to  it,  and 
in  direct  contradiction  to  the  views  of  President  Edwards, 
its  original  author,  are  never  satisfied.  Over  the  dishonored 
precepts  of  the  one,  and  the  broken  sceptre  of  the  ether,  the 
truly  guilty  are  permitted  to  pass  with  impunity,  and  to  pro- 
fane with  their  unhallowed  presence,  the  diamond  pavement 
that  glitters  around  the  throne  of  God.  The  garden,  the 
cross,  the  resurrection  morn,  are  turned  by  it,  into  the  endu- 
ring memorials  of  a  successful  conspiracy,  in  which  justice 
was  evaded,  and  the  penalty  of  her  holy  law  suspended  for- 
ever: in  which  righteousness  and  peace  parted,  to  meet  no 
more — truth  and  mercy,  to  embrace  no  more.     They  were 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR.  189 

separated  at  the  fall  by  the  sin  of  man — at  the  cross  by  a  con- 
spiracy, and  in  glory,  by  a  dispensation.  "  The  law  can  have 
no  penal  demand,  except  against  the  offender  ;  with  a  substi- 
tute it  has  no  concern,  though  a  thousand  substitues  should 
die,  the  law,  in  itself  considered,  and  left  to  its  own  natural 
operation,  would  have  the  same  demand  on  the  transgressor, 
which  it  always  had.  This  claim  can  never  be  invalidated 
this  penal  demand  can  never  be  extinguished;"  (Beman  on 
Atonement,  p.  99.)  To  the  heavenly  blessedness,  Paul  has 
no  title,  and  no  right;  justice  has  claims  still  upon  him,  and 
forever  fixes  on  him  her  consuming  gaze,  and  forever  demands 
his  blood.  Truth  is  also  offended  at  his  guilty  presence,  and 
utters  against  him  her  dreadful  maledictions,  and  forever  de- 
mands his  exclusion  from  that  holy  place;  and  there  is  war 
in  heaven,  not  between  obedient  and  disobedient  angels,  but 
in  the  very  bosom  of  infinite  purity  itself  Paul  is  saved, 
but  the  attributes  of  God  are  set  at  perpetual  variance  with 
each  other.  "  Behold  how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kin- 
dleth." 

If  the  "love  of  being  in  general;"  or  benevolence  is  the 
sum  of  all  virtue,  and  selfishness  the  sum  of  all  sin;  then  no 
moral  distinctions  can  exist  back  of  intelligent  mental  pre- 
ferences, and  neither  holiness,  or  sin,  can  belong  to  the  nature 
of  a  moral  being,  but  must  always  belong  to  his  acts.  And 
then  nature  loses  nothing  by  ordinary  generation,  gains 
nothing  by  regeneration.  Sin,  therefore,  is  disobedience  in 
all  instances,  and  can  in  no  case  be  a  mere  "want  of  con- 
formity to  law;"  and  regeneration  is  obedience,  and  not  the 
implantation  of  a  new  principle  in  the  soul;  and  faith  and  re- 
pentance and  love  do  not  proceed  from  any  such  new  princi- 
ple created  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  they  are  acts  performed 
by  ourselves  in  view  of  motives.  Love  to  God,  also,  flows 
not  from  a  new  heart,  but  from  the  natural  heart;  the  same 
heart,  in  all  respects,  with  which  we  loved  sin.  The  direc- 
tion and  the  object  of  the  love  are  changed,  but  not  the 


190       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIAN8. 

heart;  and  faith  is  an  act  of  man,  not  "the  gift  of  God,"  not 
a  principle  implanted  in  the  soul  by  which  we  are  brought 
into  a  living  union  with  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  same  exercise 
in  every  respect,  with  which  we  believe  any  proposition,  dif- 
fering, specifically  in  nothing,  but  in  the  things  believed. 

And  this,  according  to  the  theory  which  we  oppose,  is 
made  to  be  true  of  all  the  graces  of  the  spirit;  they  are 
purely  natural  actions;  the  simple  unchanged  outgoings  of 
those  natural  qualities  with  which  we  are  born  and  enter  the 
world.  Regeneration  is,  hencC,  neither  a  mystery,  nor  a 
miracle,  but  purely  an  exercise  of  the  natural  heart,  per- 
formed in  the  ordinary  manner,  and  with  the  carnal  mind; 
and  the  natural  man  discerns  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  the  carnal  mind  loves  God,  and  that  which  is  born  of 
flesh  is  faultless  in  itself,  and  can  please  God.  Infants,  also, 
can  have  no  moral  character,  because  they  have  not  yet  put 
forth  those  intelligent  preferences  on  which  the  moral  char- 
acter depends,  and  hence  they  cannot  be  as  yet  the  subjects 
of  the  moral  government  of  God.  They  cannot  be  renew- 
ed by  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  they  have  no  sinful  nature  to  be 
renewed,  not  washed  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  for  they  have 
no  sin  to  wash  away;  they  are  mere  animals,  die  by  the 
same  law,  and  perish  in  the  same  oblivion.  God  is  the  God 
of  Abraham's  seed  in  their  infant  state,  in  the  same  sense  in 
which  he  is  the  God  of  the  offspring  of  the  beast  that  perish; 
for  infants  are  not  moral  agents,  and  there  is  nothing  in  the 
ordinance  of  baptism,  or  in  the  promises  to  believing  parents, 
which  can  possibly  raise  them  in  the  scale  of  being  to  that 
high  dignity,  before  they  shall  have  put  forth  an  intelligent 
moral  preference :  a  moral  being  cannot  be  created  even  by 
omnipotence,  he  must  create  himself. 

Accordingly,  the  church  has,  in  all  past  ages,  been  involv- 
ed in  a  great  error  on  this  subject,  and  has  attributed  to  the 
Holy  Spirit  far  greater  part  in  the  matter  of  our  redemption 
than  he  ever  performed,  and  a  power  and  glory  which  were 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR.  191 

not  his  due.  Indeed,  the  reasons  for  his  special  dispensation 
are  not  very  obvious,  since  all  which  he  ever  accomplished, 
could  have  been  effected  without  his  agency  altogether,  or 
at  least  he  merely  persuades  men  to  do  what  ihey  could  have 
easily  done  before,  and  which  things  they  at  length  actually 
do  accomplish  themselves,  and  that,  without  previously  re- 
ceiving from  him  any  new  principle  of  spiritual  life.  And 
when  this  point  is  gained,  is  the  next  step  in  the  departure 
from  the  truth  either  singular  or  difficult  1  To  deny  his  per- 
son altogether  1  For  if  we  can  take  away  from  him  all  his 
appropriately  official  work,  and  cover  his  glorious  ministration 
with  dishonor,  will  it  be  at  all  astonishing  if,  finally,  we  do 
not  so  much  as  know  "whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost  V 

But  the  error  denies  the  holiness  of  God's  nature  also,  and 
degrades  him  from  the  glory  of  his  eternal  thrown  to  the 
condition  of  a  mere  subject.  The  law  by  which  his  conduct 
is  regulated,  and  his  character  determined,  is  that  of  benev- 
olence. This  law,  as  it  is  reported,  graduates  its  requirments 
by  the  abilities  of  moral  beings.  While  it  requires  no  more 
than  they  can  render,  it  still  requires  all  that  they  can  ren- 
der, and  of  God  it  requires  infinite  benevolence,  because  he 
is  infinite;  he  never  can  exceed  its  claims,  neither  in  himself, 
nor  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  for  "Jesus  Christ  was  bound  to 
obey  the  law  for  himself,  and  could  no  more  perform  works 
of  supererogation,  or  obey  on  our  account,  than  any  body 
else."  (See  Lectures  to  Professing  Christians,  pp.  215,  216.) 
Imputed  righteousness  would,  therefore,  be  an  impossibility, 
because  that  which  Jesus  Christ  owed  for  his  own  justifica- 
tion, as  a  natural  subject,  could  justify  no  one  but  himself. 

Thus,  by  the  issues  of  a  metaphysical  subtlety,  is  the 
church  deprived  of  the  Spirit's  inward  and  purifying  graces 
and  of  a  Saviour's  outward  and  justifying  righteousness. 
In  following  it,  the  only  infallible  guide  has  been  abandoned, 
the  only  spot  on  earj:h,  in  which  the  new  creation  reposes  in 
living  verdure  ;  and  as  we  advance,  the  rose  of  Sharon  and 


192       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

and  the  lily  of  the  valley  lift  up  their  beautious  heads  no  more 
beneath  the  sunny  skies  of  a  perpetual  spring.  The  regions 
which  we  approach,  grow  dreary  and  more  dreary  still,  until 
spiritual  life  itself  becomes  extinct  and  a  perpetual  winter 
asserts  its  gloomy  reign. 

The  doctrine  of  man's  ability  to  keep  the  law  of  God  per- 
fectly in  this  life,  appears  also  to  hold  an  affiliated  relation  to 
the  original  error  on  the  nature  of  virtue,  for  it  allows  no 
character  to  a  moral  nature,  but  only  to  an  intelligent  moral 
preference  ;  nature,  therefore,  must  be  mere  capacity  :  and 
obligation,  must  be  measured  by  its  strength,  and  character 
determined  by  its  actings:  and  as  the  law  requires  perfect 
obedience,  the  ability  must  necessarily  exist  to  obey  it ; 
in  the  language  of  Mr.  Barnes,  "  our  obligations  in  all  cases 
are  limited  by  our  ability."  (Notes  2  Cor.  viii.  12.)  The 
ability  must  be  plenary,  or  else  it  is  not  an  ability  ;  if  there 
is  the  least  defect  in  it,  if  every  element  which  appropriately 
enters  into  the  idea  of  ability,  does  not  exist  in  fallen  man, 
then  it  cannot  be  said  of  him,  that  he  is  able  to  keep  the  law 
of  God,  for  the  ability  to  keep  the  law,  to  be  any  thing  at 
all,  must  be  altogether,  and  in  every  respect,  adequate  to 
that  end.  "None  but  a  tyrant  demands  more  than  can  be 
rendered,  and  to  demand  more,  is  the  appropriate  descrip- 
tion of  a  tyrant."     (Notes  of  Mr.  Barnes,  2  Cor.  viii.  12.) 

Accordingly  what'  can  be  more  legitimate  than  the  con- 
clusion at  which  Mr.  Finney  has  at  length  arrived.  That 
men  really  do  that  which  they  are  perfectly  able  to  do  :  at 
least  some  of  them  keep  the  law  of  God  perfectly  in  this  life. 
Would  it  not  be  a  most  singular  and  most  unaccountable  re- 
sult, that  among  the  millions  of  our  race  not  one  had  yet  been 
found  who  had  done  what  each  individual  amonsx  men  could 
as  easily  have  done  without  supernatural  aid  as  he  could 
have  used  his  power  to  "arise  and  walk?"  Granting  the 
premises,  assumed  in  the  New  School  divinity  to  be  correct, 
then  Mr.  Finney's  conclusion  is  also  correct,  and  he  is  far 


# 


TENDENCIES    OP    ERROR.  193 

more  consistent,  than  those  who  start  with  him  in  his  premises 
and  then  refuse  to  follow  him  in  his  just  and  irresistable  con- 
clusions. The  starting  point  of  Mr.  Finney,  and  his  New 
School  antagonists,  is  the  same.  The  self  same  dark  stream 
which  bears  his  barque,  bears  theirs  to  the  same  stygian 
pool ;  and  though  they  may  pause  in  terror  and  tie  up  their 
boat,  and  cry  out  against  him  for  his  temerity,  in  keeping  on 
his  way,  yet  whenever  they  break  from  their  own  moorings, 
they  must  inevitably  follow  in  his  wake*  While  they  main- 
tain that  man  in  his  natural  state,  and  without  supernatural 
aid  can  at  any  moment,  keep  the  law  of  God  perfectly,  Mr. 
Finney,  should  not  be  decried  by  them  and  excluded  from 
their  pulpits,  for  maintaining  the  very  logical  conclusion, 
that  some  men  at  least,  do  keep  the  law  of  God  perfectly, 
inasmuch  as  they  have  confessedly  the  additional  aid  afford* 
ed  them  by  the  infinite  motives  of  the  gospel.  Moreover,  if 
obligation  and  ability,  limit  and  govern  each  other,  if  the  law 
does  not  require  of  man,  in  his  fallen  state,  all  that  it  did  re- 
quire of  him,  in  his  state  of  primeval  innocence  and  purity, 
but  is  modified  in  its  claims,  and  adapts  itself  to  the  weak- 
ness of  his  present  condition,  if  the  command,  "  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength," — 
(Mat.  xii.  30,)  signifies  merely  that  you  shall  love  God  with 
your  heart  as  it  now  is,  and  does  not  have  respect  both  to 
the  purity  of  the  principle  from  which  the  love  is  required 
to  flow  and  to  the  act  itself— if  in  a  word,  the  claims  of  the 
law  are  to  be  regulated  by  the  existing  and  ever  fluctuating 
ability  of  sinners,  then  the  following  positions  can  be  main- 
tained :  * 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  who  thought  verily  that  he  ought  to  do 
many  things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth," 
(Acts  xxvi.  9,)  was  not  sinful  for  being  in  that  state  and  for 
acting  accordingly,  but  for  those  sinful  and  voluntary  acts 

which  brought  him  into  it.     And  his  subsequent  sorrow  and 

13 


194  OLD    AND  NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

deep  repentance,  and  many  tears,  on  account  of  his  persecu- 
tions of  the  church,  were  rather  the  evidences  of  a  weak 
conscience,  than  of  a  truly  gracious  state. 

The  same  is  true,  also,  of  the  inebriate;  the  several  acts 
which  bring  him  into  a  state  of  beastly  insensibility,  are  sin- 
ful, but  the  state  itself  is  not;  for  in  it  he  has  lost  the  ability 
to  be  holy,  and  when  ability  is  lost,  the  obligation  is  destroy- 
ed. It  cannot,  therefore,  be  affirmed  that  drunkenness 
is  itself  sinful,  on  this  theory,  any  more  than  extension  and 
impenetrability  can  be  said  to  be  the  sins  of  a  board.  It  sure- 
ly will  not  be  maintained  that  the  drunken  man  can  now,  on 
the  instant,  throw  off  his  lethergy,  and  put  forth  "  the  gov- 
erning purpose"  of  sobriety— and  of  consequence  he  has  for 
the  time  being,  succeeded  perfectly  in  destroying  the  claims, 
of  the  divine  law.  This  state  he  can  perpetuate  at  his  plea- 
sure, and  can  cease,  for  years,  to  be  a  subject  of  the  mor- 
al government  of  God;  for  "our  obligations,  in  all  cases,  are 
limited  by  our  ability;  this  is  obviously  the  rule  of  equity." 
"None  but  a  tyrant  ever  demands  more  than  can  be  render- 
ed, and  to  demand  more,  is  the  appropriate  description  of  a 
:yrant."     (B.  Notes,  2  Cor.  viii.) 

The  same  is  true,  with  regard  to  fallen  angels  and  lost 
spirits  in  the  prison  of  woe  ;  in  that  dark  abode,  love  is  ex- 
cluded by  perfected  enmity,  and  hope,  by  perfected  dispair; 
there  the  inability  to  love  God,  is  entire  and  unending,  and 
capable  of  being  overcome  by  omnipotence  alone.  And  if 
the  law,  measures  its  claims  by  the  ability  of  its  subjects,  it 
certainly  can  have  no  claims  upon  the  damned,  and  they 
likewise,  are  absolutely  and  forever,  released  from  the  moral- 
government  of%God.  All  the  millions  belonging  to  the 
period  of  infancy,  must  be  included  in  the  same  catagory, 
with  all  those  who  have  by  their  subsequent  voluntary  acts, 
placed  themselves  in  a  condition  of  real  inability  to  keep  the 
law  by  either  the  temporary  want  or  the  final  loss  of  all  abili- 
ty to  obey  it. 


TENDENCIES    OP    ERROR.  195 

In  this  manner  does  this  single  error  make  void  the  law  of 
God,  not  only  by  admitting  sinners  to  the  glory  of  heaven, 
without  meeting  and  magnifying  its  righteous  claims  through 
the  vicarious  obedience  of  Christ,  but  also  by  measuring  those 
claims  by  a  rule,  as  false  in  its  nature,  as  it  is  demoralizing 
in  its  tendencies  ;  a  rule  which  makes  obligation  to  decrease 
with  the  increase  of  actual  wickedness,  among  all  the  guilty 
beings  that  people  the  universe. 

The  doctrine  of  ability,  as  held  by  the  New  School,  cannot 
be  maintained,  even  by  the  very  analogies  to  which  thev  so 
confidently  resort,  in  its  illustration  and  defence  ;  for  what  has 
the  inability  of  a  man  to  lift  a  mountain,  to  do  with  his  ina- 
bilitv  to  love  God?  The  former  was  never  a  moral  obli^a- 
tion,  and  never  could  be  one;  the  latter  is  a  moral  obligation, 
and  its  strength  can  never  be  impaired.  The  inability  in  the 
two  cases  resemble  each  other  only  in  their  degrees^  but  they 
differ  wholly  from  each  other,  because  they  differ  in  their  na- 
tures. The  one  belongs  to  physics,  the  other  to  ethics;  the 
one  is  an  inability  of  bones  and  sinews,  the  other  of  a  moral 
nature.  But  take  an  instance  more  strictly  analogous,  to 
wit:  the  inability  of  a  debtor  to  pay  his  debts,  and  does  this 
inability,  though  equal  in  degree  with  his  inability  to  lift  a 
mountain,  cancel  his  obligations  V  no,  certainly  not,  for  it  dif- 
fers from  the  former  in  kind;  man  was  never  under  moral  ob- 
ligation to  lift  a  mountain,  but  he  was  always  under  obligation 
to  fulfill  his  covenant  engagements  ;  the  latter  obligation  is 
moral,  and  perpetuates  itself  by  a  necessary  law  ;  it  can  nev- 
er be  impaired  by  any  loss  of  ability,  whatever,  and  hence 
the  whole  system  is  seen  to  be  essentially  false,  and  cannot 
plead  a  single  appropriate  analogy  in  its  defence.. 

The  reiterated  assertions  of  Mr.  Barnes  and  others,  that 
an  inability  is  physicial,  whenever  it  is  real,  is  calculated  to 
deceive  those  who  cannot  comprehend  their  meaning,  but  no 
others.  The  inability  of  fallen  angels  and  of  fallen  man,  to 
love  God,,  in  their  own  unaided  strength,  is  as  real,  and  as 


196  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

oreat  in  degree,  as  their  inability  to  create  a  world  ;  but  these 
two  kinds  of  inability  differ  totally  and  infinitely  from  each 
other.  The  reality  of  the  inability  to  love  God,  does  not 
make  it  physical,  any  more  truly,  than  it  makes  it  chemical, 
or  agricultural ;  the  inability  of  God  to  lie,  is  real  and  sub- 
stantial; in  other  words,  it  is  absolute  and  infinite;  but  is  not 
therefore  physical,  and  as  destitute  of  moral  character,  as  the 
inability  of  the  sun  to  shed  darkness  on  the  earth.  The  ina- 
bility, in  both  instances,  is  equally  a  reality;  but  they  differ 
infinitely  from  each  other,  because  the  former  is  the  inability 
of  a  moral  being  to  do  evil,  and  the  latter,  the  inability  of 
matter  to  violate  the  laws  which  are  impressed  upon  it. — 
Our  inability  to  create  a  world,  belongs  to  our  physical  con- 
stitution ;  our  inability  to  love  God,  to  our  moral  constitu- 
tion. The  former  has  no  moral  character,  whatever,  the 
latter  is  wholly  sinful.  The  absoluteness  of  the  inability  to 
create  a  world,  renders  criminality  impossible  ;  the  absolute- 
ness of  the  inability  to  love  God,  renders  criminality  infinite. 
In  the  former  instance,  the  inability  is  an  excuse  ;  in  the  lat- 
ter, a  crime. 

God  is  one,  and  his  law  is  one,  presenting  forever  the  same 
unvarying  aspect,  and  putting  forth  forever  the  same  high 
and  holy  claims  ;  no  weakness  of  depraved  nature,  can  pos- 
sibly weaken  its  original  integrity.  The  trembling  "debtor, 
to  do  the  whole  law,"  (Gal.  v.  3,)  the"  mere  wreck  of  what 
his  nature  once  was,  hears  the  same  voice  from  the  burning 
throne,  which  rings  in  the  ear  of  a  seraph,  "pay  me  that 
thou  owest ;"  and  the  same  finger  which  traced  its  precepts, 
amid  fire  and  darkness,  on  the  enduring  rock,  writes  out  the 
doom  of  inability  on  the  gates  of  hell,  "verily  I  say  unto 
thee,  thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence,  till  thou  hast 
paid  the  uttermost  farthing,"  (Math.  v.  20.)  Inability  can. 
among  no  intelligences,  no  where,  in  no  worlds,  deliver  from 
its  stern  dominion,  or  break  the  arm  of  its  power,  and  hence 
we  can  say  with  peculiar  emphasis  and  truth,  "mans  inabili- 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR.  197 

ty,  is  God's  opportunity ;"  for  if  there  had  been  a  law  given, 
which  could  have  given  life,  verily,  righteousness  should  have 
been  by  the  law,  (Gal.  iii.  21.) 

Again,  it  is  maintained,  as  another  result,  that  if  ability  to 
obey  is  essential  to  obligation,  and  intelligent  preferences  es- 
sential to  character,  then  the  moral  government  of  God  is 
exclusively  a  government  of  motives,  and  omnipotence  can- 
not prevent  sin.  "  Free  moral  agents  can  do  wrong  under 
all  possible  preventing  motives,"  (See  Christian  Spectator, 
Sept.  1830,  p.  503.)  "His  law  is  moral,  not  physical,  a  gov- 
ernment of  motive  and  not  of  force.  It  is  vain  to  talk  of 
his  omnipotence  preventing  sin;  if  infinite  motives  cannot 
prevent  it,  it  cannot  be  prevented,  under  a  moral  government, 
and  to  maintain  the  contrary,  is  to  maintain  a  contradiction," 
(Finney's  Sermons  on  important  subjects,  p.  58.) 

Hence  no  faith  can  be  exercised  in  the  omnipotence  of  God 
by  his  praying  people ;  in  a  moral  universe,  omnipotence  has 
no  potency;  it  cannot  prevent  sin;  it  cannot  renew  the  wills 
of  men.  Omnipotence  has  been  resisted  by  men  and  angels, 
and  can  be  again.  If  men  are  unwilling  to  be  saved,  Omni- 
potence cannot  make  them  willing.  Omnipotence  is  alto- 
gether out  of  the  question,  in  saving  men;  if  God  cannot 
gain  the  consent  of  men  to  be  saved,  by  strong  arguments, 
the  effort  must  prove  abortive;  he  cannot  save  them  at  all;  he 
cannot  "make  them  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power,"  but 
only  in  the  day  of  their  power,  and  when  they  are  pleased  to 
exercise  it  aright. 

Saints  may  not  persevere,  they  are  not  "kept  by  by  the 
power  of  God,  through  faith,  unto  salvation,"  but  by  motives, 
and  motives  are,  in  their  own  nature  resistable,  have  been 
resisted,  and  may  be  resisted  again;  and  the  saint  may  resist 
them,  and  perish. 

Elect  angles,  and  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  are 
moral  agents  held  in  obedience,  not  in  the  least  degree,  by 
Omnipotence,  but  by  motives  alone,  and  they  too  can  rebel, 


198      OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

and  may  at  any  time  break  away  from  every  restraint,  sun- 
der every  holy  tie,  falsify  every  solemn  covenant,  rob  Christ 
of  his  reward,  the  Spirit  of  his  glory,  and  heaven  of  its  in- 
habitants. If  Omnipotence  cannot  prevent  sin,  if  the  heav- 
enly hosts  can  thwart  the  will  and  power  of  Almighty  God, 
if  they  choose  to  do  so,  who  can  tell  but  that  the  period  may 
come  when  they  will  all  abuse  this  dangerous  power,  and  si- 
lence at  once  the  hallelulias  of  heaven,  and  turn  their  backs 
upon  the  blessed  Lamb,  and  leave  the  magnificent  courts  of 
Jehovah's  temple  desolate  andsforsaken  ?  Oh,  how  profoundly 
dark  and  repulsive  is  this  cheerless  theory,  when  it  thus  unset- 
tles the  deep  foundations  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  and 
commits  the  perpetuity  and  glory  of  the  heavenly  state  to  a 
mere  contingency. 

These  errors  are  all  concatinated;  they  all  arise  from  one, 
or,  perhaps,  two  naked  assumptions,  viz. :  first,  that  all 
holiness  consists  in  the  love  of  being  in  general,  or  in  disin- 
terested benevolence ;  and,  secondly,  that  obligation,  is  in  all 
cases,  limited  by  ability  v  The  former  commences  all  moral 
distinctions,  with  the  commencement  of  moral  preferences, 
and  turns  mere  nature  into  mere  capability.  The  latter  ex- 
cludes the  work  of  the  spirit,  and  makes  man  independent  of 
his  maker  in  the  work  of  obedience. 

They  are  by  no  means  self-evident  propositions  ;  they 
rest  on  no  support  from  the  word  of  God,  and  the  system^ 
therefore,  which  arises  legitimately  out  of  them,  is  woven, 
warp,  and  woof,  from  the  imaginations  of  men.  Though 
relied  upon  as  primary  moral  principles,  too  clear  to  need 
any  proof,  yet,  they  are  a  mere  begging  of  the  question, 
mere  assumptions,  which  never  have  been  proved,  and  which 
never  can  be.  Nay,  their  very  results,  prove  them  false, 
and  stamp  them  with  infamy,  and  give  them  up  to  reproach, 
show  them  to  be,  not  the  first  principles  of  eternal  truth,  but 
the  first  principles  in  a  connected  tissue  of  error  and  false 
philosophy.  These  grapes  never  grew  on  Mount  Zion,  they 
are  grapes  of  gall,  their  clusters  are  bitter. 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR.  199 

In  their  incipiency,  these  propositions,  and  the  speculations 
concerning  them,  produced  but  little  alarm,  and  few  compre- 
hended their  tendencies.  Good  men  held  them  as  axioms,  but 
left  them  to  their  repose,  as  containing  matters  too  meta- 
physical for  the  common  mind,  and  continued  to  preach  the 
gospel :  but  since  they  have  become  matured  into  system, 
the  vampire  is  at  the  seat  life,  it  fastens  itself  on  the  jugular 
vein  in  the  neck  of  the  church,  and  drains  the  vital  current 
from  all  its  members  :  it  must  be  destroyed  or  it  will  destroy 
the  church.  Error  has  affinities  for  nothing  but  itself,  and 
whenever  it  attains  to  entire  self-consistency,  in  all  its  parts, 
it  will  have  rejected  every  evangelical  truth.  The  rapid 
growth  of  universalism,  deism,  and  skepticism,  around  us, 
is  traceable  directly  to  this  source,  men  have  learned  to 
depend  upon  reason,  not  upon  revelation.  Religious  teach- 
ers have  appealed  almost  exclusively  to  common  sense  to  first 
principles  and  to  the  nature  of  things  in  proof  of  their  posi- 
tions. Their  hearers  have  learned  also  to  do  the  same,  and 
the  word  of  God  has  been  brought  into  great  contempt ;  so 
that  to  prove  a  doctrine  by  the  Bible,  is  become  of  no  avail 
with  many  professing  Christians  ;  if  it  cannot  be  proved  by 
reason  it  cannot  be  proved  at  all. 

Exposition  has,  to  an  alarming  extent,  also  been  supplant- 
ed by  moral  essays  and  philosophical  speculations.  "  The 
people  see  not  their  signs  ;"  The  house  of  prayer  is  sadly 
neglected,  and  the  halls  of  false  teachers  thronged  by  the 
children  of  the  church.  Few  seem  to  comprehend  the 
cause  of  the  deep  and  dreadful  declension.  But  when  im- 
putation, atonement,  depravity,  and  regeneration — these 
great  pillars  of  Christianity,  exist  only  in  name,  or  expire 
upon  the  rack  of  metaphysical  inquisitors,  or,  at  the  least, 
are  withheld  from  having  utterance  in  the  house  of  God, 
then  there  is  a  cause,  a  great  and  sufficient  cause.  The 
shield  is  upon  the  face  of  the  sun,  and  it  darkens  the  whole 
world.     And  when  the  gospel  testimony  is   silent,   or  ex- 


200  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

hausted  of  its  meaning,  in  the  very  church  itself,  is  not  this 
the  time  for  error  to  set  in  from  other  quarters  also,  and  to 
pour  out  its  dark  tides  from  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and 
from  the  mouth  of  the  beast,  and  from  the  mouth  of  the 
false  prophet,  and  to  bear  away  everything  "  lovely  and  of 
good  report  1" 

Is  this  the  time,  then,  for  the  cry  of  peace,  and  for  the 
feeling  of  security  1  Is  this  the  time  1  when  error  is  already 
matured  into  system,  and  occupies  the  high  places  of  Zion, 
and  Deists,  and  Unitarians,  are  hailing  its  champions  over 
the  broken  walls  of  the  city  of  God.  Nay,  if  it  were  some 
"time  hallowed  absurdity"  which  was  made  the  object  of 
assault,  we  might  well  be  silent,  but  it  is  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints.  Not  that  faith  as  it  exists  in  forms  of 
government,  and  in  forms  of  worship,  but  as  it  exists  in  its 
inmost  sanctuary,  arrayed  in  its  sacerdotal  robes,and  sheding 
forth  its  spirit's  blessed  ministrations.  And  is  this  the  time, 
then,  for  the  witnesses  to  be  silent  and  to  suffer  obscurity,  to 
break  their  courage,  and  reproach  to  break  their  hearts  1 
No,  verily,  there  are  principles  involved  in  this  controversy 
too  sacred  to  be  abandoned  without  a  struggle,  and  which 
will  never  be  abandoned  by  the  friends  of  Zion.  "  If  I  for- 
get thee,  oh  Jerusalem,  let  my  right  hand  forget,  if  I  do  not 
prefer  thee  above  my  chief  joy." 

The  errors  which  now  assail  the  old-fashioned  theology 
and  impress  upon  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation,  a  refin- 
ed and  philosophic  infidelity,  have  been  insidiously  introduc- 
ed and  spread.  They  come  from  the  most  unexpected 
sources  and  take  us  by  surprise  ;  we  cannot  believe  our  eyes, 
or  ears,  nor  listen  to  our  uncharitable  suspicions,  we  fear 
we  may  be  doing  injustice  to  men  much  better  than  our- 
selves, and  await  the  result,  till  the  most  favorable  period 
for  successful  resistance  is  already  past,  and  the  Son  of 
Man  is  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners.  The  professions 
arc  sound,  but  the  teachings  are  false  and  deceptive  ;  creeds, 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR.  201 

sacred  to  the  memory  of  reformers  and  martyrs,  are  in  cur- 
rent use,  but  the  philosophy  of  Christianity,  it  is  contended, 
is  the  wide  open  common  which  lies  between  truth  and 
error,  the  neutral  territory  between  Christ  and  Belial ;  this 
is  the  place  for  the  tournaments,  and  here  it  is  where  hel- 
mets are  broken,  and  the  sword  of  the  spirit  vilely  cast 
away.  Nothing  must  be  said,  lest  we  should  disturb  the 
peace  of  Zion  and  arrest  the  progress  of  revivals.  Alarm  is 
uncalled  for  as  no  evil  is  intended;  and  none  can  accrue  to 
the  church  from  these  innocent  speculations  ;  until,  at  length, 
the  speculations  have  been  turned  into  doctrines,  and  "  truth 
has  fallen  in  the  streets  and  equity  cannot  enter." 

For  the  last  ten  years,  it  is  claimed,  that  correct  views 
have  revived  and  made  great  progress  among  the  New 
School,  and  that,  because  the  new  measures  have  nearly  dis- 
appeared from  among  them.  But  the  new  measures  are  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  evils  of  which  we  complain,  the  doc- 
trinal errors  with  which  they  were  connected,  and  which  they 
served  to  spread,  were  the  germ  of  the  apostacy,  and  they 
alone  rendered  them  formidable.  Error  is  usually  cold  and 
philosophical  and  cannot  long  continue  to  feed  any  excite- 
ment, good  or  bad  ;  its  first  outporings  are  the  melted  lava 
which  soon  ceases  to  flow  and  lingers  into  rock  ;  the  reli- 
gion which  has  succeeded  to  the  new  measures  is,  to  a  sad 
extent,  a  religion  without  revivals,  and  without  the  gospel. 
It  is  the  new  divinity,  therefore,  thus  rapidly  and  silently 
diffusing  itself  everywhere,  which  awakens  alarm  and  calls 
for  kind  but  determined  expostulation.  The  slumbers  of  the 
church  must  be  broken,  and  that  at  anv  hazard.  No  mere 
managing  of  a  few  sound  men,  to  outmanage  their  more 
wily  foes,  will  avail  aught  in  this  struggle.  "  The  children 
of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generations,  than  the  chil- 
dren of  light."  No  cunningly  devised  method  of  preaching 
orthodoxy  in  terms  so  soft,  and  sweet,  and  ambiguous,  as  not 
to  offend  Pelagian  hearers,  will  suit  at  all  the  exigencies  of 


202       OLD  AXD  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS.  , 

this  evil  day.  The  gospel  must  be  preached  as  it  was,  and 
as  it  is ;  we  are  not  sent  to  bury  its  lustre  under  velvet 
cushions,  or  to  turn  its  edge  with  the  down  of  thistles  ;  we 
may  keep  our  places  by  our  pliancy,  but  we  shall  betray  our 
trust  and  offend  the  master.  "For  do  I  now  persuade  men, 
or  God  ;  or  do  I  seek  to  please  menl"  for  if  I  yet  pleased 
men,  I  should  not  be  the  servant  of  Christ."     (Gal.  1 — 10.) 

Reader,  has  curiosity  led  you  to  keep  me  company  thus 
far,  and  are  you  yet  in  the  broad  and  thronged  way  which 
leads  to  death  ?  Think  not  then  that  error  in  the  church  di- 
minishes in  aught  the  guilt  of  your  own  unbelief,  or  delays  for 
a  moment  your  approaching  doom.  Justice,  eternal  justice 
demands  your  blood,  and  no  arm  can  save  you,  but  his  who 
hung  upon  the  tree.  Your  inability  to  obey  the  law  is  not 
your  excuse,  but  the  evidence  of  your  guilt  and  deep  neces- 
sity, and  the  harbinger  of  approaching  ruin.  Offended  justice 
has  no  reluctant  heart  and  no  reluctant  hand  to  punish. — 
"  God  shall  wound  the  head  of  his  enemies,  and  the  hairv 
scalp  of  such  an  one  as  goeth  on  still  in  his  tresspass."  (Ps. 
xviii.  21  ;)  darker  still,  and  darker  is  the  hue  of  guilt,  deeper 
still,  and  deeper  is  the  frown  of  injured  heaven  at  the  con- 
tinued slight,  put  by  your  continued  impenitence  upon  the 
only  redeemer  of  God's  elect.  "  Oh,  if  the  word  spoken  by 
angels  was  steadfast  and  every  transgression  and  disobedi- 
ence received  a  just  recompence  of  reward  ;  How  shall 
we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation."  Heb.  ii.  2,  3. 

We  call  upon  you  therefore,  by  the  truth  of  your  total  de- 
pravity, and  by  your  righteous  and  hopeless  condemnation 
in  your  present  state  ;  by  the  blood  of  atonement  so  long 
neglected,  and  by  the  expostulations  of  the  Spirit  so  long  re- 
sisted ;  in  view  of  the  resurrection  morn,  the  judgement 
scat  of  Christ  and  the  retributions  of  eternity,  to  awaken  at 
once  to  righteousness  and  to  cast  yourself  to  day  upon  the 
bosom  of  your  blessed  and  only  Redeemer.  The  law  con- 
demns ;  justice  demands  your  blood ;   conscience  accuses, 


TENDENCIES    OF    ERROR.  203 

and  your  adversary  the  devil,  seeks  to  devour.  But  Christ 
is  the  trembling  sinners  friend — kind  to  her  taken  in  the  very 
act  of  sin,  and  accused  by  all — near  to  him,  who  stands  afar 
off,  and  smites  upon  his  breast ;  he  upbraideth  not — no  bitter 
reproaches  salute  the  ear  of  the  prodigal  ;  his  return  lends 
speed  to  aged  limbs,  and  grey  locks  stream  upon  the  wind  to 
meet  him,  while  yet  afar  off — the  words  of  self  reproach  are 
stifled  "by  embraces,  and  the  tears  of  bitterness  are  kissed 
away  ;  as  it  is  written,  "  before  they  call  I  will  answer,  and 
while  they  are  yet  speaking  I  will  hear."  Isa.  lxv.  24. — 
"  Now  then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ  as  though  God 
did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God  for  he  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who 
knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  him."  2  Cor.  v.  20.  21. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


BASIS    OP    UNION    AMONG    PRESBYTERIANS. 


What  it  is — The  New  School  have  departed  from  it — A  return  necessary  to 
a  union. 


The  Holy  Spirit  is  represented  as  building  a  spiritual  tem- 
ple upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and  prophets  in  which 
Jesus  Christ  occupies  the  place  of  the  chief  corner  stone. — 
Eph.  ii.  20.  The  foundation  is  doctrinal,  and  the  distinguish- 
ing doctrine  is  that  of  the  atonement  of  Christ,  on  this  the 
whole  superstructure  ultimately  rests.  Every  one  also  who 
reaches  his  destined  place  on  this  foundation,  reaches  it  by 
an  agency  external  to  himself.  The  marble  blocks  repose  in 
total  insensibility  in  their  native  beds,  here  they  are  found  by 
the  architect,  broken  from  the  quarry,  polished  after  the 
similitude  of  a  palace,  and  borne  to  their  place  in  the  edifice. 
It  occurs  not  to  them  to  throw  off  their  natural  deformity 
and  to  go  forth  in  beauty  and  usefulness.  "  They  are  buil- 
ded,"  are  wholly  passive  in  taking  their  shape  and  in  reaching 
their  places. 

The  building  is  gradually  completed.  "Forty  and  six 
years  was  this  temple  in  building,"  said  the  Jews  of  theirs. 
That  of  Diana,  say  s6me,  was  four  hundred  years  in  build- 
ing ;  but  that  of  Jehovah  has  been  in  progress  six  thousand 
years,  and  ages  yet  to  come,  will  roll  away  before  the  last 
elected  stone  shall  be  broken  from  natures  quarry,  and  fitted 


BASIS    OF    UNION.  205 

and  carried  up  "with  shoutings  of  grace,  grace  unto  it."  Zech. 
iv.  9. 

The  doctrines  of  the  gospel  are  as  essential  to  a  church 
state,  as  foundations  are  to  a  building.  "  If  the  foundations 
are  destroyed  what  can  the  righteous  do."  The  invisible 
church  comprises  in  it  the  whole  family  of  believers  in  heaven, 
and  on  earth  of  every  nation  and  of  every  name  ;  the  visible 
church  comprises  in  it,  the  various  organizations  of  professed 
Christians  who  receive  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  in  a  suffi- 
cient degree  to  enjoy  a  church  state.  A  building  may  be  sup- 
ported by  an  imperfect  foundation  :  the  chief  corner  stone  may 
be  there,  and  many  more  of  great  utility,  while  the  places  of 
others  may  be  supplied  by  wood,  hay,  stubble,  and  other 
worthless  and  combustable  materials  and  yet  the  building 
may  stand;  its  safety  and  durability  is  indeed  greatly  endan- 
gered, but  its  existence  is  not  destroyed. 

Some  portions  of  the  family  of  Christ  are  more  visibly 
and  sufficiently  on  this  foundation,  than  others  ;  and  while 
a  general  fellowship  should  exist  among  ihese,  yet  none  should 
be  required  to  abandon  their  conscientious  views  of  truth 
for  the  sake  of  union.  A  union  effected  in  this  manner 
would  be  unscriptural  and  injudicious.  It  is  expected  of 
Christians  that  they  be  honest  men,  and  that  they  hold  con- 
nection with  that  denomination  whose  peculiarities  resemble 
most  in  their  judgment  the  apostolic  model.  Their  position 
in  the  visible  church  should  be  expressive  of  their  conscien- 
tious convictions,  and  it  can  be  no  violation  of  the  principles 
of  an  enlightened  charity  in  them  to  require  all  who  unite 
with  them  to  embrace  their  denominational  peculiarities. 

As  a  portion  of  the  church  of  Christ,  we  have  expressed 
our  views  of  the  gospel  in  a  compendious  way.  They  are 
contained  in  our  confession  of  faith  and  form  of  government, 
and  in  the  larger  and  shorter  catechisms  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  divines  ;  while  we  do  not  maintain  that  we  are 
the  church  of  Christ  exclusive  of  all  others,  we  still  insist 


206        OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

on  an  honest  subscription  to  our  standards,  on  the  part  of  all 
those  who  unite  with  us,  and  we  believe  our  course,  in  this 
respect,  to  be  in  accordance  with  common  usager  with  en- 
lightened charity,  and  essential  to  our  existence  as  a  Christ- 
ian church. 

A  union  of  all  denominations  in  one  body,  while  each  one 
should  be  permitted  to  maintain  its  peculiar  views,  would 
awaken  bitter  controversy,  and  result  in  mutual  alienation. 
Socialism  has  not  yet  proved  that  one  house  is  large  enough 
for  more  than  one  family,  and  the  enlightened  lovers  of  har- 
mony in  the  churches  will  not  attempt  to  prove  it. 

A  union,  also,  in  which  a  silent  abandonment  of  mutual 
differences  in  opinion  should  be  agreed  upon,  would  involve 
in  it  a  criminal  dereliction  of  principle,  and  a  total  abandon- 
ment of  the  gospel.  Churches  are  bound  to  a  solemn  and 
earnest  testimony  to  what  they  believe  to  be  the  truth,  and 
they  cannot  be  released  by  any  conventional  arrangements 
whatever.  The  differences  which  separate  believers  into 
denominations,  are  various,  and,  though  each  communion 
may  receive  a  sufficient  amount  of  evangelical  truth  to  pre- 
serve the  integrity  of  their  church  state,  yet,  when  each 
one  shall  have  relinquished  all  their  differences  with  every 
other,  the  denomination  which  would  be  the  result  would 
have  but  little  to  distinguish  it  from  an  association  of  free 
thinkers.  Take,  for  example,  those  differences  which  sep- 
arate Old  from  New  School  Presbyterians,  alone,  for  an 
illustration  of  this  point..  One  believes  that  Christ  endured 
the  penalty  of  the  law;  another,  that  he  did  not.  One  that 
he  obeyed  it  for  his  people  ;.  the  other  that  he  obeyed  it  for 
himself.  One  that  his  righteousness  is  imputed  to  believers  ; 
the  other  that  it  is  not,,  but  that  the  act  of  faith  is  imputed. 
One  that  faith  receives  the  righteousness  of  Christ ;  the  other 
that  Christ  needs  it  for  himself.  One  that  regeneration  is 
an  act  of  God ;  the  other  tftat  it  is  the  act  of  man..  One 
that  it  is  a  change  of  nature  ;  the  other  that  it  is  a  change; 


BASIS    OF   UXIOX.  207 

of  purpose.  One  that  man  can  do  nothing,  of  himself ;  the 
other  that  he  can  do  every  thing,  which  is  required,  of  himself. 
And  thus  we  might  proceed  to  include  other  denominations, 
and  to  show,  .that  if  we  should  agree  to  relinquish  our  re- 
spective differences  for  the  sake  of  a  common  union  with 
each  other,  we  should,  in  that  event,  agree  to  relinquish 
every  evangelical  truth,  everything  held  dear  and  sacred  by 
any.  We  might  retain  the  names  of  christian  doctrines,  but 
no  explanation  could  be  attempted  of  their  meaning  without 
breaking  the  principles  of  the  compact.  The  points  on  which 
we  differ  are  so  numerous,  extending  so,  to  every  doctrine 
of  the  gospel,  and  so,  to  every  explanation  of  every  doctrine; 
no  one  thing  would  more  effectually  destroy  our  entire 
Christianity  than  an  amalgamation,  on  such  conditions- 
every  minister  would  become  silent,  every  pulpit  vacant ; 
every  church  empty.  Such  an  union  ought  never  to  be 
proposed,'  or  if  proposed^  ought,  promptly  and  unanimously, 
to  be  rejected. 

As  Presbyterians,  therefore,  we  have  but  one  course  left 
for  us  to  pursue — but  one  basis  of  union  to  present.  Our 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  is  the  Bible,  our  epitome 
of  it,  is  the  confession  of  faith.  In  that  instrument  our  views 
of  Christianity  are  fully  stated,  without  reserve,  and  without 
ambiguity;  and  if  the  New  School  desire  a  union  with  us,  they 
ought  first  to  retract  their  errors,  and  to  make  an  honest  sub- 
scription to  our  standards.  We  ought  to  exact  no  less  from 
them ;  they  ought  to  expect  no  less  from  us.  A  condemna- 
tion of  the  act  of  1837,  on  our  part,  would  not  restore  the 
breach,  for  the  plain  and  sufficient  reason,  that  it  did  not 
make  it.  «To  approve  or  condemn  it,  is  not,  with  us,  an  arti- 
cle of  faith,  or  a  condition  of  union.  We  do  not  believe  in 
the  infallibility  of  Ecumenical  Councils,  or  of  General  Assem- 
blies ;  we  believe  that  the  plan  of  union,  because  never  con- 
sented to  by  the  several  Presbyteries,  was  unwise,  and  uncon- 
stitutional, and  that  from,  its  injurious  operation,  its  abroga- 


208  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    TRESBYTERIANS. 

tion  was  imperiously  demanded,  by  every  principle  of  self 
preservation.  Bat  whether  our  views  on  this  subject,  are 
correct  or  not,  can  be  of  but  small  moment,  since,  whether 
the  act  of  '37  was  wise  or  unwise,  it  could  not  dissolve  our 
organization,  or  separate  any  one  from  the  Presbyterian 
church ;  each  one  has  but  to  comply  with  the  order  and  di- 
rection of  the  Assembly,  and  avail  himself  of  the  provisions 
made  for  him  in  the  act  itself,  by  uniting  with  the  nearest  con- 
tiguous presbytery,  and  every  difficulty  is  overcome.  The 
declaration  of  war  with  Mexico,  may  have  been  an  error  of 
the  administration,  but  the  effect  of  it  was  not  a  dissolution 
of  the  Federal  Compact.  On  the  war  question,  our  citizens 
will  hold  different  opinions,  and  will  remain  good  citizens 
still ;  and  with  respect  to  the  plan  of  union  and  its  abroga- 
tion we  may  entertain  very  different  opinions,  and  be  good 
Presbyterians  still.  Our  particular  opinions  concerning  the 
acts  of  the  general  assembly,  have  as  little  to  do  with  the  ba- 
sis of  union  among  Presbyterians,  as  the  Mexican  war  has 
to  do  with  the  general  confederacy.  We  are  not  to  expect 
perfection  in  any  administration,  but  we  ought  to  expect  loyal- 
ty on  the  part  of  every  subject.  Secession  is  rebellion.  An 
honest  subscription  to  our  standards,  is  therefore,  most  rea- 
sonably required,  and  most  certainly  expected.  To  talk  or 
think  of  any  other  method  of  union,  is  idle.  The  door  is  al- 
ready thrown  open,  as  wide  as  it  ought,  and  as  wide  as  it 
can  be. 

The  New  School  have  seceeded  from  the  church,  denied 
to  her,  her  distinctive  missionary  character,  and  changed  her 
form  of  government.  But  above  all  their  leading  men.  Dr's. 
Cox,  Beman,  Beecher,  Duffield,  and  Mr.  Barnes,  have  denied 
the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel  as  understood  and  explained 
by  Presbyterians,  and  these  denials  have  taken  a  permanent, 
popular  form,  and  have  obtained  a  wide  circulation  ;  com- 
municants and  their  children  are  alienated  from  the  church 
of  their  fathers,  and  have  learned  to  speak  lightly  of  the 


BASIS   or   UNION.  209 

faith  of  the  martyrs,  and  of  the  witnesses  of  Jesus.  Impu- 
tation, original  sin,  native  depravity,  regeneration  and  atone- 
ment, are  beginning  to  have  existence  only  in  name;  all  that 
these  great  doctrines  imply,  is  treated  by  many,  as  the  idle 
philosophy  of  the  Schools.  In  these  serious  and  fundamen- 
tal questions,  they  have  departed  from  us ;  and  if  they  desire 
a  union,  let  them  first  restore  the  breach  they  have  made. 
The  evidences  that  they  are  the  offenders  against  union,  and 
that  they  renew  the  offence,  and  keep  up  the  feud,  meet  us 
every  where.  Their  protection  of  errorists,  and  the  wide 
circulation  which  they  are  still  giving  to  their  dangerous  opin- 
ions, prove  that,  whatever  else  they  may  be,  they  are  not 
Presbyterians.  Their  unwillingness  to  separate  from  the 
General  Assembly,  by  compromise — their  abrupt  breaking 
off  of  kind  negotiations,  and  their  suit  at  law,  which  origina- 
ted wholly  with  themselves,  prove  their  spirit  to  have  been 
any  other  than  brotherly  or  peaceable,  at  the  time.  The 
decision  of  the  court,  that  they  were  not  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  United  States, 
and  their  failure  to  prosecute  their  appeal  to  a  higher  court, 
prove  that  the  laws  of  our  country,  and  their  own  ominous 
failures,  are  against  the  justice  of  their  claims ; — intimates 
that  their  cause  is  wanting  in  integrity,  is  wholly  indefensible 
on  its  own  merits,  and,  on  this  account,  needs  to  be  supported 
by  the  war  of  prejudices,  raised  upon  false  issues.  So  that 
in  every  aspect  of  the  whole  question,  they  are  evidently 
the  aggressors  ;  and  if  they  sincerely  desire,  or  expect  a  un- 
ion with  us,  they  should  at  once  return  to  the  point  at  which 
they  commenced  their  separation.  They  have  departed,  let 
them  return.  They  have  made  the  breach,  let  them  restore 
it. ,  They  have  entered  the  bosom  of  our  peaceful  family, 
and  bred  heresy,  strife  and  debate,  in  it.  They  have  entered 
our  well-tille/l  garden,  and  trodden  in  the  dust  the  rose  of 
sharon,  and  the  lily  of  the  valley  there.  They  have  broken 
down  our  hedges,  led  away  our  children,  and  decoyed  ourpeo- 

14 


210  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS.. 

pie.  They  have  done  the  evil,.thorefore,  to  make  reparation^, 
belongs  to  them.  The  basis  of  union  remains  as  aforetime*. 
The  confession  of  faith,  and  the  form  of  government,  and 
the  longer  and  shorter  chatechisms  of  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly of  Divines,  are  not  altered. 

But  if  the  New  School  have  improved  upon  the  old  basis 
and  taken  away  some  of  its  bad  principles,  and  supplied  their 
place  with  better  ones,  then  it  behooves  us  to  follow  them 
as  they  more  perfectly  follow  Christ.  In  this  conslusion  we 
concur.  But  is  it  an  improvement  to  destroy  the  appellate 
jurisdiction,  and  missionary  character  of  the  General  As- 
sembly 1  To  deny  that  Christ  obeyed  the  law  and  bore  its 
curse  for  his  people  ?  To  maintain  that  the  act  of  faith,  and 
not  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  is  imputed  to  us,  for  our 
justification  1  That  God's  immutable  law  is  changed?  that 
he  does  not  require  of  fallen  man,  what  he  did  require  of 
him  in  his  state  of  primeval  innocence  1  That  men  are  able 
to  keep  the  law,  to  repent  and  believe  the  gospel,  without 
the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost  1  That  human  nature  is  not  de- 
Draved  l  That  infants  are  not  the  subjects  of  moral, 
government  ]  And  that  God  does  nothing  for  man  in  re- 
generation, that  he  cannot  do  for  himself?  These  are  al- 
terations of  our  creed,  but  are  they  improvements  simply 
on  that  account  1  That  is  to  assume  the  very  thing  to  be 
proved,  or  to  assume  that  the  gospel  is,  in  its  own  nature,  a 
progressive  development  of  truth,  and  that  change  is  prima 
facie  evidence  of  desirable  amendment  and  progress. 

The  works  of  creation  are  finished  works,  they  remain 
just  what  they  were  six  thousand  years  ago,  the  face  of  the 
heavens,  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the  revolutions  of  the 
earth,  the  changes  of  the  seasons,  the  atmosphere,  the 
clouds,  the  wind,  the  dew,  the  rain,  all  remain  just  what 
they  were  when  they  were  first  made.  They  are  incapa- 
ble of  change  for  the  better,  as  they  are  already  beautifully 
adapted  to  their  end — the  perfected  works  of  God,;  and  any 


BASIS    OF    UNION~  211 

alteration  of  their  constitution  would  endanger  the  safety  of 
the  world.  The  gospel,  also,  in  like  manner,  is  a  finished 
testimony.  The  heavens  that  now  overhang  the  new  Jeru- 
salem, are  just  what  they  were  eighteen  hundred  years  ago. 
They  have  not  changed,  and  they  never  will  while  time 
shall  last.  The  balmy  atmosphere  which  at  first  surround- 
ed Mount  Zion,  surrounds  it  still,  unchanged.  The  dew  that 
glitters  like  a  shower  of  diamonds  there,  falls  and  shines  and 
refreshes  as  aforetime.  And  the  sun  of  righteousness  still 
looks  down  from  the  same  spot  in  the  firmament,  and  bathes 
the  city  of  the  great  king  in  the  same  softened  effulgence  as 
at  the  first.  All  things  here  retain  their  primevaL  sweetness 
and  glory,  unimpaired  and  unimproved.  The  doctrines  of 
the  gospel  are  as  incapable  of  change  for  the  better  as  are 
the  works  of  nature  ;  and  any  alteration  of  them  endangers 
the  welfare  of  the  souls  of  men. 

But,  if  it  be  said,  that  although  the  gospel  cannot  be  im- 
proved, yet  that  this  is  not  true  of  the  confession  of  faith, — 
J  reply,  then,  that  this  may  be  true,  and,  as  the  New  School 
profess  to  have  made  great  improvements,  why  have  they  not 
incorporated  them  in  their  new  confession  of  faith  1  I  find 
some  changes  in  church  government  in  that  instrument,  but 
they  are  themselves  already  out  of  patience  with  these  very 
changes.  These,  then,  cannot  be  intended,,  and  as  they  have 
made  no  formal  changes  in  our  doctrinal  standards,  wherein 
have  they  made  any  improvement  at  all  1  They  profess  to  be- 
lieve the  confession  of  faith  ;  that  it  is  strictly  in  accordance 
with  the  word  of  God  ;  that  it  requires  no  change,  and  that 
their  improvements  are  in  the  mere  philosophy  of  Christianity; 
that  these  are  wholly  unimportant  in  their  nature,  and  should 
not  alienate  us  from  each,  other.  Why,  then,  in  the  name 
of  charity,  do  they  make  such  a  great  ado  about  so  great  a 
trifle,  and  finally  rend  the  church  from  Maine  to  Texas  for 
a  mere  figment,  the  mere  moonshine  of  philosophy?  "Why 
did  the  best  beloved  Brutus  stab  if  not  for  justice?"     If  it  be- 


212       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

not  for  Christianity  itself,  then  abandon  it  at  once.  If  this 
mere  philosophy,  be  a  mere  nothing,  it  will  cost  them 
nothing  to  forsake  it;  to  remove  In  the  true  spirit  of 
christian  conciliation,  and  condecension,  this  abomination 
that  maketh  desolate,  and  to  restore  union,  and  harmony, 
and  confidence  among  alienated  brethren.  Thus  the  very 
defences  set  up  by  the  New  School,  are  the  evidences  of 
conscious  weakness,  and  resemble  the  excuses  and  subterfuges 
of  a  defeated  party,  and  of  a  failing  cause. 

A  church  is  a  company  of  living  witnesses  to  the  truth, 
and  her  creed  is  one  of  the  forms  in  which  she  embodies  and 
exhibits  her  testimony.  If  she  simply  declared  her  belief  in 
the  scriptures,  and  did  not  state  definitely,  what  she  under- 
stood the  scriptures  to  teach,  her  testimony  could  not  be 
distinguished  from  that  of  errorists ;  for  all  Protestant  de- 
nominations of  every  grade,  believe  that  the  word  of  God, 
contained  in  the  scriptures  of  the  old  and  new  testaments, 
is  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  The  line  of 
demarcation,  between  a  true  and  a  false  Christianity,  com- 
mences with  formal  statements  of  our  faith —  with  distinct, 
and  clear  definitions  of  our  views.  Here,  at  this  point,  it  is 
that  the  church  emerges  from  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and 
makes  her  sound  and  sanctifying  testimony.  To  profess  that 
she  believes  the  scriptures,  and  to  do  no  more,  would  not  be 
a  mark  of  fidelity,  would  not  make  her  either  conspicuous  or 
useful, — "  a  city  set  on  a  hill  which  cannot  be  hid."  She 
must  declare  what  the  scriptures  teach,  as  to  "  what  we  are 
to  believe  concerning  God,  and  what  duty  God  requires  of 
man."  Her  creed,  her  catechism,  her  living  ministry,  must 
keep  back  nothing  deemed  "  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  re- 
proof, for  correction,  and  for  instruction  in  righteousness." 

In  this  duty  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  remarkable 
for  her  firmness  and  fidelity.  She  has  a  creed,  and  one  very 
difficult  either  to  prevert  or  misunderstand.  It  is  not  rejected 
because  its  true  meaning,  lies  deeply  hid  among  metaphysical 


BASIS    OF    UNION.  213 

mists  and  antiquated  theological  technicalities  ;  because  friged 
as  the  poles  and  "dark  as  Erebus  and  old  night"  and  its 
meaning  impossible  to  be  comprehended.  It  is  rejected  be- 
cause it  is  understood  too  well — because  it  is  warm  with  holy 
fire,  and  filled  with  unearthly  majesty  and  uncompromising 
truth.  It  is  hated  and  rejected  for  the  same  reasons  that  the 
gospel,  of  which  it  is  a  beautiful  epitome,  is  hated  and  rejec- 
ed, — because  it  embodies  and  presents  that  gospel  in  its  well 
defended  and  admirable  proportions. 

Our  testimony  is  one,  with  that  of  the  apostles,  and  one, 
with  that  of  their  successors.  We  teach  the  same  gospel 
which  Paul  taught  to  the  Roman's,  to  the  Galatians,  to  the 
Hebrews, — we  unite  with  the  church  in  the  wilderness  in 
reiterating  her  testimony,  and  with  the  subsequent  army  of 
reformers  and  martyrs  and  witnesses  of  Jesus,  in  theirs.  We 
do  not  regard  Christianity  as  a  progressive  science,  but  as  a 
perfected  revelation  ;  we  promulgate  no  new  doctrines  ;  we 
usurp  no  authority  over  the  conciences  of  men  ;  we  maintain 
the  ancient  gospel  and  the  headship  of  Christ  over  his  own 
house. 

The  church  in  all  ages  is  the  same,  and  her  testimony  is 
the  same.  That  testimony  has  been  as  well  understood,  as 
clearly  stated,  as  deeply  loved,  as  highly  valued,  as  ably  de- 
fended by  the  witnesses  of  Jesus  in  other  days,  as  it  now  is. 
We  have  gained  nothing  by  time  and  distance,  by  progress 
in  commerce,  in  arts,  and  arms  over  them.  They  gazed  upon 
the  same  heavens  that  we  gaze  upon,  inhaled  the  same  at- 
mosphere, were  informed  by  the  same  spirit,  and  were  built 
upon  the  same  foundations:  "seeing  then  that  we  are  com- 
passed about  by  so  gfeat  a  crowd  of  witnesses,  let  us  lay 
aside  every  weight  and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily  beset  us, 
and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  set  before  us,  looking  un- 
to Jesus  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith."  Brethren  other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ,  in  his  penal  sufferings,  imputed  righteousness  and  spirits 


"214  OLD   AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

ministration:  and  to  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  truth,  as 
it  is  in  Him,  is  no  ordinary  blessing.  But  to  be  separated 
from  it — to  be  ever  learning  and  never  able  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  is  an  affliction  grevious  to  bear,  a  sad 
ingredient  in  the  cup  of  bitterness.  To  break  from  our  moor- 
ings here,  is  to  wander  about  at  all  uncertainties,  the  sport 
of  every  unquiet  wave  and  contrary  wind;  back  to  this  point 
we  shall  look  with  a  tearful  eye  and  with  an  aching  heart, 
remembering  the  days  of  an  uncorrupted  simplicity,  and  of  a 
settled  faith.  Then  a  false  philosophy  had  not  as  yet  spread 
out  her  dark  pall  upon  the  bosom  of  our  perished  hopes,  nor 
filled  the  sunny  sky  with  a  perpetual  gloom  ;  but  since  we 
have  listened  to  that  wily  foe,  who  hath  cast  down  many 
strong  men,  wounded,  our  eyes  are  darkened,  and  we  can- 
not say  that  we  have  a  lie  in  our  right  hand. 

But  if  we  have  wandered,  there  is  a  pathway  of  retun> 
Those  however,  who  reach  the  foundation  are  built  upon  it. 
No  native  strength  or  righteousness  can  build  us  on  that  foun- 
dation. Without  the  Spirit's  aid  we  can  neither  find  it,  nor 
reach  it,  if  it  were  found.  The  Holy  Spirit  breaks  the  rock 
from  the  quarry,  and  fits  and  polishes  and  bears  it  to  its  place 
on  the  foundation,  none  shall  make  any  progress  toward  that 
place  of  security  and  repose,  without  a  sufficient  knowledge 
of  this  blessed  truth.  The  more  fully  we  understand  and 
appreciate  our  inability  and  our  entire  dependence  on  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  brighter  is  the  hope  of  a  successful  return. 
"  Work  out,  therefore,  your  own  salvation,  with  fear  and 
trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."     Amen.    # 


CHAPTER  X. 


PLEA    FOR    UNION    AMONG    PRESBYTERIANS. 


A  union  desirable — Division  among  Christians  an  evil — The  true    remedy 
proposed. 


Our  Lord  prays  for  a  union  among  his  followers  in  all  ages, 
u  neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also,  which 
shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word,  that  they  all  may  be 
one,  as  thou  Father  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me."  The  union  is  desirable.  The  prayer  for  it  was 
offered  up  by  our  Lord,  just  before  he  was  betrayed.  It  is 
his  dying  request ;  a-nd  this  fact  presents  the  subject  to  us, 
with  additional  solemnity,  and  impressiveness.  The  union 
for  which  he  prayed  included  at  least  the  following  par- 
ticulars. 

A  union  in  nature. — That  the  church  might  possess  in  com- 
mon, "  the  divine  nature,"  (2  Pet.  i.  4. )  The  holiness  of  God, 
not  in  degree,  but  in  kind,  being  "  renewed  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness,  after  the  image  of  Him  who  created  man. 

A  spiritual  union. — The  same  spirit  renewing,  sanctifying, 
and  dwelling  in  them  all,  making  the  whole  church  one,  by 
distributing  to  each  one  the  inhabitation  of  the  same  Holy 
Spirit.  * 

A  union  in  the  affections  of  the  heart,  and  in  the  views  of 
the  mind;  they  "being  perfectly  joined  together  in  the  same 
mind,  and  in  the  same  judgment." 

It  was  desired  that  this  union  should  be  visible,  and  tend 


216  OLD   AND   NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

to  the  conversion  of  the  world:  "that  the  world  may  believe 
that  thou  hast  sent  me." 

There  are  popular  virtues,  which,  when  seen  in  the  church, 
secure  the  confidence  and  respect  of  mankind,  and  have  a 
bearing  on  their  conversion.  "  Let  your  light  so  shine  before 
men,  that  they,  seeing  your  good  works,  may  glorify  your 
Father  who  is  in  heaven."  Union  among  believers  is  one  of 
these,  because  so  opposite  to  the  spirit  of  the  world,  and  so 
delightful  an  exhibition  of  the  harmony  af  heaven.  Behold, 
how  good,  and  how  pleasant  it  is,  to  see  brethren  dwell  to- 
gether in  unity:  it  is  like  the  dew,  that  descended  upon 
the  mountains  of  Zion  :  for  there  the  Lord  commanded  the 
Messing,  even  life  for  evermore.  Psalm  cxxxiii. 

Wars  and  fightings  are  in  the  world;  men  are  hateful,  and 
hate  one  another;  each  one  would  be  greatest.  An  equal, 
a  superior,  a  rival,  cannot  be  endured.  Men  are  "  desirous 
of  vain  glory,  provoking  one  another,  envying  one  another;" 
but  when  we  meet  with  those  who  are  united  in  a  church 
state,  and  have  fervent  charity  among  themselves- — united  in 
one  heart  and  one  mind — the  contrast  is  striking,  and  we 
meet  it  wkh  an  agreeable  surprise.  We  turn  often  to  it,  as 
weary  mortals  turn  from  the  heartless  glitter  of  wealth  and 
fashion,  from  the  pride  of  cultivated  intellect,  from  the  rage 
for  gold  and  preferment,  to  the  period  of  youthful  innocence, 
the  sweet  recollection  of  happier  days,  and  desire  to  dwell 
in  a  spot  so  hallowed,  in  which  Heaven  has  blotted  out  the 
animosities  of  the  past,  and  opened  upon  the  ravished  sight, 
the  delightful  visions  of  the  future. 

Union  among  Christians,  in  their  testimony,  gives  that  tes- 
timony greater  credibility  and  force.  The  Church  is  a  com- 
pany of  witnesses  to  the  truth,  and  it  is  desirable  that  that 
testimony  should,  in  no  respect,  be  conflicting  or  contradic- 
tory. "  We  are  his  witnesses  of  these[things,  and  so  is  also 
the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  God  hath  given  to  all  them  that  obey 
him."     This  testimony  began,  at  the  first,  to  be  spoken  by 


PLEA    FOR    UNION.  217 

the  Son,  and  was  confirmed  unto  us,  by  them  that  heard  him. 
They  confirmed  the  testimony  of  Christ,  by  repeating  it 
without  contradiction  or  alteration,  and  to  verify  the  truth 
of  their  testimony,  another  witness  also  appeared,  "  God  also 
bearing  them  witness,  both  with  signs  and  wonders,  and  di- 
vers miracles,  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to  his 
will."  Paul  multiplies  the  witnesses  to  the  same  Gospel,  that 
he  may  increase  the  force  of  his  own  testimony.  In  the  xi. 
chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  he  unites  himself  with 
all  the  intermediate  witnesses  to  the  Gospel,  back  to  the  time 
of  Abel.  He  calls  out  the  stars,  one  by  one,  till  at  length 
they  are  gathered,  and  mingle  in  a  vast  galaxy,  and  surround 
the  city  of  the  living  God,  with  a  subduing  and  refreshing 
brightness.  Thus  he  places  the  city  on  a  hill;  it  shines  from 
afar,  over  whole  countries,  and  along  the  flight  of  ages;  the 
mellow  light  in  which  it  reposes,  attracts  us  away  from  the 
evanescent  glare  of  all  earthly  glory,  to  gaze  upon  its  sur- 
passing and  attractive  loveliness;  "  beautiful  for  situation, 
yea,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  is  Mount  Zion,  on  the  sides 
of  the  north,  the  city  of  the  great  King,  God  is  known  for  a 
refuge  in  her  palaces." 

The  divisions  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  therefore,  into  sep- 
arate organizations,  each  delivering  its  separate  and  conflict- 
ing testimony,  tends  greatly  to  weaken  the  force  of  that  tes- 
timony, and  to  obscure  its  lustre.  Her  testimony  is  stronger 
or  weaker  in  proportion  as  she  is  more  or  less  united  in  it. — 
Her  want  of  union  is  an  evil  to  be  deplored,  and  in  every  as- 
pect in  which  it  can  be  viewed,  it  is  an  evil.  God  brings 
light  out  of  darkness,  and  good  out  of  evil — He  overruled 
the  wickedness  of  Joseph's  brethren  to  good,  and  the  murder 
of  his  Son,  to  the  salvation  of  men;  and  he  overrules  the 
divisions  in  the  Church,  to  a  more  full  examination,  and  a 
more  perfect  understanding  of  his  word,  and  to  various  other 
desirable  ends.  But  these  acts  of  his  providence  do  not  in- 
terfere with  the  nature  of  evil  actions:  they  remain  evil  still; 


218       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS, 

no  good  results  growing  out  of  divisions  in  churches,  can 
prove  that  they  are  in  themselves  innocent,  or  that  they 
ought  to  be  desired  on  their  own  account. 

These  divisions  are  not  modern;  they  originated  with  a 
primitive  Christianity,  and  will  continue  till  the  fullness  of  the 
Gentiles  be  come  in;  then  shall  the  Jews  return,  and  there 
shall  be  but  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd.  Our  Lord  did  not 
regard  division  as  innocent,  but  as  inevitable,  in  the  present 
state  of  knowledge  and  holiness:  "it  must  needs  be  that  offen- 
ces come,  but  woe  unto  him  by  whom  the  offence  cometh." 
Judaizing  teachers  formed  large  parties  and  corrupted  and 
divided  the  primitive  churches.  Their  conduct  met  with  se- 
vere reprehension  from  the  Apostle  Paul — "  Mark  them 
which  make  divisions  and  offences,  contrary  to  the  doctrine 
ye  have  learned,  and  avoid  them,  for  they  that  be  such 
serve  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  their  own  lusts,  and  by 
good  words  and  fair  speeches  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  sim- 
ple." At  Ephesus,  he  called  for  the  elders  of  the  church, 
and  said.  "  after  my  departure,  shall  grievous  wolves  enter  in 
among  you,  not  sparing  the  flock,  and  of  your  own  selves 
shall  men  arise,  speaking  perverse  things,  and  leading  away 
disciples  after  them."  The  spirit  of  Antichrist  had  also  be- 
gun to  operate,  even  in  his  day,  "  whose  coming  was  after 
the  working  of  Satan,  with  all  power,  and  signs,  and  lying 
wonders,  and  with  all  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness  in 
them  that  perish." 

But  the  power  which  preserved  the  bush  unconsumed,  amid 
the  flame,  preserves  the  church  likewise,  amid  the  rage  of 
conflicting  opinions.  The  arm  which  sustained  the  bride  in 
the  wilderness,  sustains  her  still.  "The  sea  has  come  up  upon 
Babylon" — Tyre.  Sidon  and  Ninevah,  have  disappeared 
with  her  beneath  the  angry  wave  ;  there  the  crescent 
is  sinking  fast,  and  there,  in  the  eddies  of  the  same  mael- 
strom, appears  the  mother  of  abominations,  hurrying  with 
increasing  violence,  toward  the  devouring  gorge.     But  the 


PLEA    FOR    UNION",  219 

church,  though  frail  as  a  helpless  woman,  abandoned  in  her 
light  shallop,  on  the  crest  of  the  thundering  surge,  shall  ride 
securely  amid  the  war  of  elements,  and  play  with  the  main  of 
the  sea,  and  out-live  the  fearful  storm,  in  which  steamers  are 
wrecked,  and  navies  dismasted.  Christ  is  with  her,  and  how- 
ever great  her  perils,  she  can  never  be  engulfed  and  lost. 

Two  remedies  have  been  alternately  tried  to  cure  the  evils 
of  disunion.  The  one  has  dispensed  with  persuasion,  and  in- 
sisted on  uniformity  by  pains  and  penalties.  The  other  has 
made  its  seductive  appeal  to  the  law  of  a  false  charity.  The 
former  has  procured  a  union  as  heartless  and  false,  as  the 
means  resorted  to  were  cruel  and  unscriptural.  The  latter 
has  made  a  fair  show  in  the  flesh,  but  has  tended  to  apostacy. 
It  has  required  us  to  abandon  our  differencs,  and  to  love  one 
another,  to  care  less  about  doctrine,  and  more  about  union — 
in  other  words,  to  care  less  about  Christianity,  and  more 
about  harmony ;  for  Christianity  is  not  Christianity,  without 
its  doctrines.  No  reformation,  however,  which  has  been 
finally  acknowledged  to  have  been  from  heaven,  has  ever 
taken  this  direction.  The  Holy  Spirit  never  leads  us  to  be  in- 
different to  the  truth,  in  order  that  we  may  return  to  God, 
and  imbibe  more  of  the  love  and  harmony  of  heaven. 

The  great  revival  of  religion  among  the  Israelites,  when 
they  came  out  of  Egypt,  was  a  revival  of  knowledge,  and  gra- 
cious affections.  They  had  fallen  into  great  ignorance,  and 
irreligion,  in  Egypt,  and  for  a  whole  year  divine  knowledge 
was  shed  upon  them  from  the  burning  mount.  The  reforma- 
tion went  in  the  direction  of  truth,  and  toward  God.  A  re- 
vival of  indifference  to  truth,  in  the  churches,  is  the  work  of 
satan,  and  the  harmony,  which  is  the  result  of  it,  is  that 
which  pervades  the  palace  of  "the  strong  man  armed;"  he 
is  the  ruler  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  or  of  its  spiritual 
ignorance  ;  it  is  his  appropriate  domain  ;  here  he  erects  his 
gloomy  throne,  and  sways  his  infernal  scepter,  and  reigns ; 
for  if  our  gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid  to  them  that  are  lost,  in  whom 


220       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

the  God  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  minds  of  them  that 
believe  not,  lest  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of 
Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God,  should  shine  unto  them." 

The  great  revival  which  commenced  the  Christian  era, 
was  a  war  upon  error,  accompanied  by  the  propagation  of 
truth  in  spirit  and  in  power.  Judaism,  and  Paganism,  and 
every  form  of  false  philosophy,  and  of  false  religion,  met 
in  Christianity  a  determined  antagonist.  It  sent  not  peace 
on  earth,  but  a  s^ord — it  broke  the  harmony  of  hell, 
to  introduce  the  harmony  of  heaven.  The  revival  was  a 
revival  of  truth  and  purity,  not  of  union,  produced  by  a  com- 
promise with  errorists,  and  by  indifference  to  the  word  of 
God.  Christ  came  to  break  in  upon  the  kingdom,  supported 
and  swayed  by  erroneous  opinions,  and  to  turn  mankind  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God. 

The  revival  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  not  a  compro- 
mise between  conflicting  sectaries,  but  a  revival  of  the  great 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  long  buried  beneath  the  errors  of 
Pelagius,  and  the  consequent  superstitions  of  Rome.  The 
reformers  recovered  and  reopened  the  word  of  God,  and 
revived  the  long  neglected  testimony  of  Jesus.  The  result 
was  glorious  and  the  gracious  work  abiding. 

Whenever  any  great  religious  movement  is  from  heaven, 
it  will  inevitably  be  attended  with  an  increasing  attachment 
to  the  gospel,  to  its  peculiar  spirit,  and  to  its  peculiar  truths  ; 
for  by  this  instrumentality  hath  it  pleased  God  "  to  save 
them  that  believe."  In  a  genuine  revival  of  religion,  men 
"  will  not  be  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  nor  be  dis- 
posed to  undervalue  any  of  its  doctrines,  "for  it  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation,  unto  every  one  that  believeth."  To 
unite  by  compromise,  would  be  to  give  up  all  that  would  make 
a  union  valuable — indeed,  it  would  be  to  relinquish  the  very 
union  itself,  for  the  sake  of  a  union,  to  agree  to  remain  in 
perpetual  disunion,  by  agreeing  never  to  discuss  our  differ- 
ences.    No  such  union  exists  between  the  Father,  and  Son, 


PLEA  FOR  UNION.  221 

and  Holy  Spirit;  nor  did  our  Lord  pray  for  such  a  union 
among  his  disciples  ;  neither  can  it  be  shown  that  he  com- 
mands, or  approves  it.  u  Come  out  from  among  them  and 
be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord  God,  and  touch  not  the  un- 
clean thing,  for  what  communion  hath  light  with  darkness, 
or  what  concord  hath  Christ  with  Belial,  or  he  that  be- 
lieveth  with  an  infidel.  The  remedy  proposed,  is  indeed, 
worse  than  the  disease  it  is  intended  to  cure.  It  will  be  far 
better  that  we  should  remain  as  we  are,  than  that  we  should 
abandon  the  gospel  for  the  sake  of  a  union  which  would  ex- 
ist only  in  appearance  and  not  in  heart.  If  we  should 
correct  our  errors,  and  become  of  one  heart,  and  one  mind, 
then  a  union  would  be  real,  and  of  a  most  happy  tendency. 
That  such  a  union  should  be  created  and  maintained,  was  the 
desire  of  our  blessed  Lord,  when  he  said,  "  That  they  all 
may  be  one  as  thou  Father  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that 
they  may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou 
hast  sent  me." 

The  grand  remedy,  then,  for  division,  is  to  elevate  among 
ourselves  the  standard  of  orthodoxy  and  piety.  True  Christ- 
ianity is  not  many,  but  one,  in  her  nature,  spirit,  and  affinities. 
Let  each  division  of  the  church,  therefore,  approximate  this 
common  standard,  more  and  more  ;  and  in  this  manner  will 
all  their  mutual  differences  vanish  gradually,  and  ultimately 
disappear  altogether.  "  Those  things  which  are  equal  to  the 
same  thing,  are  equal  to  one  another."  This  is  an  axiom? 
whose  truth  would  be  beautifully  illustrated,  by  the  perfect 
conformity  of  all  denominations  to  the  scripture  model,  then 
like  kindred  drops  they  would  be  one — equal  to  the  same 
thing,  they  would  be  equal  to  one  another.  The  union  of 
Christians,  therefore,  into  one  body,  will  be  sure  to  prove 
impracticable,  and  unprofitable,  in  the  present  condition  of 
the  churches.  This  blessed  period  must  be  postponed  till 
our  mutual  differences  vanish,  by  our  more  perfect  approach 
and  conformity  to  the  common  standard,  then,  when  all 


'.J22  OLD    AND    NEW    SCHOOL    PRESBYTERIANS. 

shall  see  eye  to  eye,  and  lift  up  a  united  testimony,  the 
church  will  wield  the  sword  of  the  spirit,  with  greater  ener- 
gy and  success,  against  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this 
world,  than  in  any  former  period  of  her  history. 

All  denominational  boundaries  ought  to  be  regarded  as 
sacred  ;  every  minister,  and  every  communicant  ought  to 
express,  truthfully,  their  respective  views,  by  their  position 
in  the  visible  church.  It  is  not,  alone,  a  question  of  useful- 
ness, or  policy,  but  also  of  common  honesty,  which  is  to  be 
attended  to  in  the  profession  of  our  faith.  No  man  can, 
without  a  change  in  his  sentiments,  be  an  Old  School  Pres- 
byterian, in  one  end  of  the  state,  and  a  New  School  Presby- 
terian in  the  other,  and  be  an  honest  man.  How  can  he  if 
so  flexible,  expect  to  be  either  trusted,  or  respected  among 
his  brethren  1  He  will  be  regarded  as  in  the  market  to  be 
bought  for  a  piece  of  bread.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  these 
pliable  consciences  will  diminish  in  number  ;.  they  are  spots 
in  our  feasts  of  charity. 

Those  Old  School  men,  who  come  into  places  where  the 
New  School  have  the  majority,  in  wealth  and  influence,  and 
unite  with  them,  on  that  account,  must  expect  to  lose  cast 
with  their  former  brethren  ;  if  they  claim  that  they  have 
•  •hanged  their  friends  only,  and  not  their  sentiments,  they 
publish  their  own  shame.  If  they  cannot  endure  affliction 
with  their  suffering  brethren — if  Presbyterians  are  not  the 
same  to  them,  whether  in  linsey  woolsey,  or  in  broad-cloth ; 
whether  in  rags  or  robes,  they  are  not  to  be  trusted  any 
where,  can  be  no  great  acquisition  to  any  party ;  and  it  is  a 
blessing  to  any  denomination,  to  be  quit  of  all  such  unstable, 
not  to  say,  unprincipled  adherents. 

Each  denomination  has  a  fixed  character — that  character 
belongs  to  all  its  members.  We  cannot  give  character  to  the 
denomination  to  which  we  belong,  it  must  give  character  to 
us  ;  if  we  unite  with  the  N&w  School  body,  or  remain  in  it, 
and  expect  to  be  regarded,  as  Old  School,  men,  our  expecta- 


PLEA    FOR    UNION.  223 

lion  is  no  compliment,  either  to  our  understanding,  or  to  our 
integrity ;  our  motives  will  be  duly  appreciated  in  the  end 
and  our  moral  worth  weighed  in  the  balances.  This  view 
of  the  conduct  of  such  triflers,  is  not  peculiar  to  us ;  it  is 
common  to  all  denominations,  and  to  the  New  School  amono- 
the  rest.  We  can  respect  the  man  whose  position  expresses 
his  true  convictions — whose  "eye  when  turned  on  empty 
space,  beams  keen  with  honor" — who  is  an  an  epistle  known 
and  read  of  all  men,  even  though  we  may  esteem  him  to  be 
in  error ;  but  "  if  he  is  not  faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mam- 
mon, who  will  commit  to  him  the  true  riches?'7  who  can  re- 
spect or  trust  him  1 

The  third  party  which  claims  to  be  of  no  party,  but  to 
stand  aloof,  both  from  the  New  and  Old  School  divisions  of 
the  church,  are  not  believed  to  be  what  their  professions  im- 
ply. They  are  regarded  as  imbittered  partizans,  and  they 
have  become  too  zealous  for  neutrality,  to  be  thought  neutral 
any  longer.  Their  tendency  has  never  been  to  the  union  of 
Presbyterians,  but  to  a  new  division  of  the  church.  There  ii 
however,  no  demand  for  a  new  division  ;  all  can  find  a  home 
now,  either  with  New  or  Old  School  bodies  already  organized, 
and  occupying  the  same  fields.  These  brethren  must  be 
difficult  indeed  to  please,  if  a  new  denomination  must  be  cre- 
ated on  purpose,  to  make  the  greatest  enemies  of  all  division, 
a  home  by  themselves.  Their  great  disinterestedness,  their 
great  love  of  peace,  should  not  turn  them  into  a  faction,  so 
violent  in  its  animosities,  as  to  lead  to  a  new  rent  in  the  seam- 
less garment  of  the  Master.  If  there  had  been  no  call  for 
former  divisions  among  Presbyterians,  then  surely  there  can 
be  no  call  for  the  organization  of  an  independent  Synod  in 
Western  New  York.  I  say  this  to  take  away  the  apology, 
from  those  who  profess  to  be  Old  School  Presbyterians,  and 
yet  refuse  to  unite  with  us,  because  they  expect  to  have  a 
third  organization  I  do  not  say  it,  to  prevent  such  an  organ- 
ization— it  needs  nothing  to  prevent  it,  for  it  will  never  exist. 


224       OLD  AND  NEW  SCHOOL  PRESBYTERIANS. 

The  very  idea  itself  has  almost  ceased  to  amuse  the  fancy  of 
any  sober  man,  in  the  shape  of  a  rational  probability. 

Finally,  the  opinions  of  other  denominations,  can  never  be 
our  standard  of  truth  and  righteousness.     We  are  not  requi- 
red to  conform  to  them,  but  to  the  word  of  God,  and  how- 
ever wide  it  may  make  the  breach  between  us,  and  those 
who  differ  from  us,  we  are  nevertheless  to  walk  by  the  same 
rule,  to  mind  the  same  things.     Paul  would  never  have  ben- 
efitted the  church,  if  he  had  modified  the  truth  to  please  men, 
nor  shall  we,  if  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel  which  we 
receive,  are  not  distinctly  stated  and  defended.     If  the  lust  of 
numbers,  shall  at  length  prevail  over  the  love  of  truth,  and 
a  union  should  be  agreed  upon,  to  any  great  extent,  between 
the  Pelagian  and  the  Calvinistic  bodies,  there  are  thousands 
who  would  sit  down  and  weep  when  they  remember  Zion, 
and  look  upon  that  period  as  the  darkest,  which  the  Ameri- 
can Presbyterian  church  ever  witnessed.     But  this  period 
will  we  trust  never  arrive,  there  are  no  tendencies  that  way, 
each  division  of  the  church  is  becoming  more  homogeneous, 
more  alike  among  themselves,  and  more  perfectly  unlike  each 
other.     These  tendencies,  are  silently,  but  constantly  opper- 
ating,  and  the  result  is  becoming  more  and  more  palpable. 
It  is  a  relief  to  know,  that  we  are  not  to  be  called  upon  to 
fight  over  again  the  battles  already  so  honorably  won,  to 
know  that  we  may  now  pursue  our  high  vocation  as  a  church, 
without  further  or  serious  molestation.     May  we  all  "follow 
the  things  that  make  for  peace  and  the  things  which  edify 
one  another."     "  How  can  two  walk  together  except  they 
be  agreed,"  our  plea  then  for  union  is  for  one,  not  simply  in 
form,  hollow  and  heartless,  but  for  such  a  union  as  that  de- 
sired in  the  prayer  of  the  Master,  "that they  all  may  be  one, 
as  thou,  Father  art  in  me  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  may  be 
one  in  us."  Amen. 


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